BX 



LETTER. 



LETTER 



FROM 



ROBERT HALDANE, ESQ. 



PASTOR AND PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AT 
GENEVA: 

OCCASIONED BY HIS " SUMMARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL 
CONTROVERSIES WHICH OF LATE YEARS HAVE 
AGITATED THE CITY OF GENEVA." 

PUBLISHED IK THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY OF THEOLOGY 
AND GENERAL LITERATURE. 



PUBLISHED BY WM. OLIPHANT, SOUTH BRIDGE ; 

AKD SOLD BY M. OGLE, AKD CHALMERS & COLLIKS, GLAS- 
GOW ; A. BROWN & CO. ABERDEEN ; J. HATCHARD & SON ; 
HAMILTON, ADAMS & CO.; J. NISBET ; J. DUNCAN ; AND 
B. J. HOLDSWORTH, LOKDOK. 




EDINBURGH: 



1824. 



> irn On ^//. 



Printed by A. Balfour <fc Co. 
Edinburgh, 1824. 



33 



a 
Or 

> 



LETTER. 



SIR, 

r ouR recent publication, in an English periodical 
Tr ork, admits the well-known fact that the pastors of 
jeneva have sunk very low in the public esteem. But, 
vhile you admit this, you employ no small address in 
endeavouring to show that the public opinion respect- 
ing them is unfounded. As I am not altogether a 
stranger to this subject, and as you have brought for- 
ward my name in connexion with it in a very promi- 
nent point of view, I feel it my duty, as well in jus- 
tice to myself, as for the sake of preventing others 
from being misled, to put the public on their guard 
against the effects of your misstatements, and, with this 
view, to exhibit the present state of religion in the 
church of Geneva in its true light. 

You begin by exultingly proclaiming the former 
glory of Geneva, resulting from her preserving the 
light of divine truth amidst surrounding apostasy and 

B 



2 



error, and from the reputation of her clergy, firmly 
established on the basis of knowledge and virtue. To 
the justice of this eulogium, but applied to a much 
earlier period than that to which you seem to refer, 
I most cordially subscribe. Geneva, from the promi- 
nent place she held in the revival of religion, is enti- 
tled to the gratitude of the surrounding countries. 
The noble stand there made against prevailing anti- 
christian delusion by the illustrious Calvin and his 
able coadjutors, and their successful efforts in diffus- 
ing divine truth, will ever live in the remembrance 
of all who value the truth. No enlightened Christ- 
ian, in the present day, will feel the smallest inclina- 
tion to derogate from the high esteem in which those 
favoured servants of God have been deservedly held. 
Their praise is in all the churches, and the blessed ef- 
fect of their labours will descend to the latest poste- 
rity. 

Respecting, then, that cc height of prosperity and 
glory to which Geneva had been elevated by the Re- 
formation," there is no difference between us, unless 
it be, (what I believe is really the case,) that I am 
disposed to attach a much higher value to her exer- 
tions at that period, than, with the sentiments you 
hold, it is possible for you to do. 

After this retrospective view, you go on to observe, 
that ' suddenly all is changed: At the beginning of the 
c nineteenth century an offensive league is formed 
c against Geneva; as if the language of commendation 
c were exhausted, she now hears only the voice of re- 
e proach and outrage/ That this change has neither 
been so sudden nor so recent as you would have your 



3 



readers suppose, I shall afterwards have occasion to 
show ; but, with respect to the general reproach of 
which the clergy of Geneva now find themselves the 
objects, I entirely agree with you. You are " left as 
a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an en- 
sign on a hill." But I may ask, in the language of the 
prophet, " Hast thou not procured this to thyself ?" 

In cursorily glancing at your statement, one might 
be induced to imagine, that the present pastors of Ge- 
neva stand on the same ground which Calvin and 
Beza, and others of their worthy predecessors occu- 
pied. But, on considering it more attentively, your 
readers will perceive that the state of things amongst 
you is completely altered. You have entirely aban- 
doned the principles of your church at the Reformation, 
and your complaint now is of the revival of Calvinism, 
the very doctrine that was then taught. What ! Sir, 
are you afraid of Calvinism ? Has the ghost of Calvin, 
whom you thought dead, and buried, and forgotten, 
appeared among you ? Is he again raising his voice 
from the chair which he once occupied, but from 
which you had hoped that it would never more be 
heard, and are you greatly alarmed ? This furnishes 
ample proof that a radical change has taken place at 
Geneva. And, in that case, can you be surprised that 
the same admiration which was enjoyed by men whose 
religious sentiments you hold in abhorrence, is not 
equally bestowed on you ? Can you expect your neigh- 
bours to be so inconsistent ? Shall we confound toge- 
ther things which are in themselves so manifestly in- 
congruous ? Shall we call darkness light, and light 
darkness ? 



4 



c Geneva is no longer Christian ! is the cry which 
c resounds in the city itself, and, reiterated by malevo- 
c lence, is heard in England, in Holland, in Germany, 
e and France, and has even reached the astonished ears 
c of the inhabitants of the New World. Why this out- 
e cry? Why this tumult?" The reason is obvious. Be- 
cause you have denied the truth of God, and are de- 
generate successors of those who held it forth in its 
purity. Because the doctrine which you preach is not 
the Gospel of the grace of God, but, on the contrary, 
subversive of it ; because, in one word, you have be- 
come Arians, and thus, in the judgment of all who 
venerate the principles of the Reformation, subjected 
yourselves to the charge of being false teachers who 
have privily brought in damnable heresies. From 
this important fact your statement is calculated to 
draw off the attention of your readers, and to direct it 
to what, if the real cause be kept out of view, must 
appear an unaccountable and unprecedented combina- 
tion against the pastors of Geneva. As, however, you 
have brought forward nothing to vindicate them from 
the charge of a change of doctrine, all that you have 
said is to no purpose, nor will any thing that can be 
said avail to relieve them from their present degrada- 
tion, till they have repented of their apostasy, and re- 
turned to the profession of the doctrines which placed 
their predecessors in the pre-eminent situation they so 
justly occupied. 

You have traced what you call " the first symptoms 
of perturbation/' and enumerated iC the succesive at- 
tacks on the pastors of Geneva," of which you ex- 



5 



liibit no fewer than thirteen. Amongst your as- 
sailants,, Mr. Empaytaz is placed in the foremost 
rank. He published,, you say, e Considerations on 
' the Divinity of Jesus Christy addressed to his former 
6 Companions, the Theological Students of Geneva, in 
£ which he attacked the Faith of the Clergy of that 
' City/ He did so, and his considerations, Sir, are 
convincing. He has placed beyond all doubt the hu- 
miliating fact, that the great body of the pastors * of 
Geneva have entirely departed from the all-important 
doctrine of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
What he has written on the subject is not the produc- 
tion of a stranger, but of one thoroughly acquainted with 
all that is passing among you. This attack, had it not 
been founded in truth, might have been easily and 
satisfactorily repelled. The charge might have been 
explicitly denied, and the doctrine in question affirm- 
ed to be maintained at Geneva in all its purity and 
force. Every faithful preacher, who, like the Apostle 
Paul, had determined to know nothing but Jesus 
Christ and him crucified, could, in such circumstances, 
have appealed to the whole of his ministry against 
such an imputation. But so far was the body of the 
clergy from pursuing this course, that only one voice 
was raised in her pulpits in defence of the ancient 
doctrine of Geneva. ' An aged pastor/ you say, ' a 
c man deservedly honoured, and till then pointed out 
< as a model of wisdom and moderation, went into the 

* My remarks in this letter do not apply to the whole of the 
pastors of the Canton of Geneva. M. Cheneviere himself dis- 
tinguishes one, who, he says, " was never the friend of his 
clerical brethren." 



6 



< pulpit, and to the amazement of his hearers,, openly 
c attacked those who did not hold the opinions he es- 
e teemed orthodox : he treated as a fatal system the 
' ideas of those instructors and members of the church 
c who disbelieved the consubstantiality of the Word. A 
c few days afterwards, a preacher, in allusion to this 
c attack, preached on the Mysteries, blaming those mi- 
c nisters who insisted on abstruse and incomprehensible 
c doctrines, and represented them as fundamental, and 
e the belief of them essential to salvation/ 

Is it possible to figure any thing that more com- 
pletely substantiates the truth of Mr. Empaytaz's as- 
sertions ? An aged pastor treats as a fatal system the 
ideas of those instructors of the church who deny the 
divinity of the Son of God. This excites the amaze* 
ment of his hearers, and for this he forfeits his char- 
acter for wisdom and moderation. To repel " this at- 
tack/' a preacher (yourself) stands forward without 
delay, and openly and loudly proscribes the ob- 
noxious doctrine ; in this manner, impiously attempt- 
ing to remove the foundation which God has laid in 
Zion, — to nullify the atonement made for sin, — to 
anathematize, under the pretext of mystery, the 
ascription of supreme divinity to Him whom the spi- 
rit of prophecy attests to be " Jehovah our righteous- 
ness," to whom the apostles witness, as " over all, 
God blessed for ever who declares himself to be 
one with the Father, and whom the Scriptures repre- 
sent as the object of worship to the whole intelligent 
creation of God in earth and in heaven ! 

On this occasion, it might have been hoped, that 
the pastors of Geneva would have manifested some- 



7 



thing of the spirit of Paul, when he declared that, if 
an angel from heaven were to preach another Gospel, 
he should be held accursed ; that they would have 
followed the example which he exhibited when, on the 
appearance of false brethren, he gave place by subjec- 
tion, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the Gospel 
might continue with the churches. At any rate, it 
might have been confidently expected, that the " aged 
pastor" would have stood forward as " a minister of 
Christ, and a steward of the Mysteries of God." 
But quite the reverse. " There was none that moved 
the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." An un- 
holy combination was entered into. c The basis of a 
c pacific plan was laid, the two preachers who had cen- 
c sured each other were consulted, and mutual conces- 
' sions were made by all parties/ And thus, by your 
own account, a disgraceful and iniquitous compromise 
was entered into. The pastors of Geneva agreed to 
be silent in their public discourses on the subject of 
the divinity of the Son of God, as a doctrine which 
they considered incomprehensible, and not essential to 
salvation ! 

The purpose of M. Empaytaz's pamphlet is accom- 
plished. The melancholy fact it asserts stands no 
longer in need of proof ; it is admitted by the parties 
accused. It is openly avowed ; it is publicly acted 
on. On the one part, the doctrine in question is op- 
posed ; on the other, it is laid aside. Its friends are 
silenced, and its enemies triumph ! But is not the ac- 
cusation here preferred too strong ? Is not this doc- 
trine still maintained by the pastors of Geneva ? Do 
they not all admit its truth? " Each one of them," you 



s 



say, " confessed that Jesus was a divine being/' After 
such a declaration, what shall be thought of your can- 
dour ? This is an insidious attempt to deceive, which 
admits of no excuse. For what is the obvious tenden- 
cy of your declaration ? Is it not to induce the belief 
that, with respect to the divine nature of Christ, 
there is no difference of sentiment among you ? and 
how is the fact ? There is a difference, and a differ- 
ence not less than between finite and infinite. One of 
the parties believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is the 
Eternal Jehovah, the other that he is merely a creature. 
If any Christian in England, in Holland, in Germany, 
in France, in the New World, who has heard of the 
defection of the Genevan pastors, has hitherto enter- 
tained the smallest doubt on this subject, he can doubt 
no longer. From the mouth of M. Cheneviere, Pastor 
and Professor of Divinity, he must now be convinced 
of the fallen state of the Geneva Church. 

Next to Mr. Empaytaz, in your account of the suc- 
cessive attacks that have been made upon you, comes, 
" Secondly, the Counsellor Jaques Grenus," of whose 
character you speak in terms of unmeasured reproba- 
tion. Of this man I heard nothing when I was at 
Geneva. If, as you say, he was convicted as a calum- 
niator, the punishment awarded to him was just. 
Were they calumnies only, by which you have from 
so many quarters been assailed, your task in refuting 
them would not have been difficult, and their false- 
hood would consequently have been long before now 
detected. 



9 



4 Thirdly/ you say, c about this time the pastors 
* learned that they were to reckon amongst their pro- 
' fessed adversaries two men who were very different 
' from the Counsellor Grenus, — two pastors who were 
c going to reprint the Helvetic Confession of 1566, 
' with a preface, explanatory of their motives and reli- 
c gious principles. In vain the clergy sent a deputa- 
6 tion to the elder and more gentle of the two, * to re- 
' present to him that the publication of such a work 
c might excite fresh disturbances, and that if Chris- 
i tians saw their teachers opposing each other, and ex- 
' hibiting the Holy Scripture as self-contradictory, it 
c would produce mistrust, and be injurious to their 
' faith and piety ; that the pastors, therefore, having 
c warned these two brethren of the danger to which 
' they exposed religion if they persisted in their un- 
c dertaking, threw all the responsibility on them- 
c selves of the unhappy effects which might follow, 
' Mr. Cellerier, sen. and Mr. Gaussen were not de- 
e terred from publishing their Confession of Faith and 
' their Preface ; and what was the time chosen for this 
c publication ? That at which the pastors were un- 
c justly assailed, and at which silence was enjoined by 
( the civil authority. Neither the Confession nor the 
( Preface produced the impression anticipated by 
c these gentlemen/ 

Here, Sir, amongst your professed adversaries, you 

* Mr. Cheneyiere here refers to " the aged pastor" above 
spoken of. This publication of the Helvetic Confession did not 
take place till more than two years after the compromise men- 
tioned. Page 7th. 



10 



bring forward two of your own pastors, whose con- 
duct, as you relate it, does them much honour. Aware 
of the total departure of so many among the clergy of 
Geneva from the ancient faith, and convinced that 
their heresy, which they had " privily brought in," 
would prove the eternal ruin of all who embraced it, 
they reprinted the Helvetic Confession, accompany- 
ing it with a preface, in which they declare their ad- 
herence to the form of sound words which it con- 
tained. You complain that this was done u at a time 
at which the pastors were unjustly assailed." You 
certainly ought to be the last to make this complaint. 
How were they unjustly assailed ? They were charged 
with denying the divinity of the Lord and Saviour, 
and you were the foremost to justify the truth of this 
charge. In such circumstances, was it not the im- 
perative duty of these two pastors openly to admonish 
the people of their danger, and thus to exonerate 
themselves, so far at least, from the guilt of concealing 
their sentiments, and proving unfaithful at such a 
crisis ? You speak of the gentleness of one of these 
pastors, but, because he is gentle, must he betray his 
master ? He may have been very desirous of peace, 
but peace itself is not to be maintained at the expense 
of truth. ec The wisdom that is from above is Jirst 
•pure, then peaceable." 

How different the light in which, according to your 
account, the matter was viewed by the other pastors. 
In vain they sent a deputation to represent the in- 
jurious consequences of such conduct, as tending to 
excite fresh disturbances, to produce mistrust in the 
minds of the people, and to injure their faith and 



11 



piety. Your calling out for peace, as you do here at 
the expense of truth, and lamenting that although the 
clergy actually differed toto coelo among themselves 
respecting the very foundation of the Gospel, they 
should not all agree to act so as to impose upon the 
people by making them believe that they were all of 
one mind, shows plainly the system on which you are 
proceeding, and justifies a most material part of the 
charge exhibited against you both by Christians and 
Infidels. By the one and by the other, you have long 
been accused of acting in an underhand dishonest 
manner ; of secretly intriguing in such a way as to 
have effected a complete change in the system of di- 
vine truth once taught at Geneva, while your real 
design in this matter has been carefully kept out of 
view. 

Your great object appears to be an artful conceal- 
ment of your downward progress, of which you do all 
in your power to keep other churches in ignorance. 
When your change of sentiment is in any way de- 
tected, when light is from any quarter let in on your 
secret machinations, you are greatly alarmed and of- 
fended. But the ground of your offence and alarm is, 
not that the sentiments of some of the pastors are 
really opposed to those of others ; but that this opposi- 
tion should be discovered, and mistrust excited. And 
ought not mistrust to be excited ? In such circum- 
stances should not the people be taught the necessity 
of examining for themselves ? Would this be injurious 
to their faith and piety ? On what foundation, I 
would ask, does that faith and piety rest, which would 
be injured by an appeal from fallible men to the in- 



12 



fallible standard of the word of God ? particularly 
when these very men to whom they have been ac- 
customed to look up for direction, stand diametrically 
opposed to each other on subjects of the last import- 
ance, and are accusing each other as blind, incapable 
guides. Are such ee the principles of the Reforma- 
tion" of which you speak ? Was the whole of that 
great work to issue in this, that the people are to be 
handed over from one set of intriguing ecclesiastics to 
another, who, in whatever else they may differ, are 
unanimous in this, that their flock should be led by 
them blindfold, and impressed with the belief, that if 
they examine the Scriptures for themselves, as en- 
joined in the sacred writings, it will prove injurious to 
their faith and piety ? Why do you not act with the 
same consistency as your Roman Catholic brethren, 
and altogether interdict to the people the reading of 
the word of God ? On what principle can you be 
vindicated in uttering the sentiments contained in 
your statement ? Have you confidence in your own 
opinions, or have you not ? Are these opinions essential, 
or are they not essential ? Is it, or is it not a matter 
of any moment what idea we entertain of Him whom 
we worship ? 

In your list of assailants, appears, 6 fourthly,, Mr. 

< Ami Bost/who published, you say, <in 181 9, a work, 
c entitled Geneve Religieuse, in which he represented 
: the church in his country as in a lapsed state. One 
' of the proofs which he adduced, was a discourse 
c lately pronounced in the Consistory, to many parts 

< of which he attributed a sense directly opposed 



13 



1 to that of the author. He professed that the pas- 
' tors had some object,, some secret, which if revealed 
e at a certain epoch, would have excited indignation ; 
< insinuating that the pastors had conceived some mys- 
( terious and guilty project; whereas this phrase,, pur- 
' posely detached from its context, related merely to 
' the suppressing of confessions of faith,, resolved on 
' in 1705, and kept secret during twenty years at 
' the request of the government. Mr. A. Bost spared 
' neither his masters nor professors; he endeavoured 
' to convince the people that they were led astray ; . . . 
' he blamed every thing which proceeded from the 
c pastors,, and approved every things even to the writ- 
c ings of Grenus, which was inimical to them/ 

This publication of Mr. Bost's is of such a nature,, 
prefers such strong accusations, supported by facts,, 
and bears so hard on the characters of the pastors of 
Geneva., even with respect to common integrity,, that 
were it possible to prove them unfounded, no man„ 
or body of men., who have any regard for their repu- 
tation^ would allow them to pass uncontradicted. 
You say, indeed, that the clergy of Geneva are con- 
demned to silence by the magistrates, whom you ac- 
cuse of acting in this*respect c under the influence of 
c unwarrantable timidity/ As far as respects any dis- 
cussion concerning your doctrines, and the innova- 
tions which you have introduced into the church of 
Geneva, their prudence in thus imposing silence, 
will, I presume, be generally admitted. The more 
that such a cause as yours is examined and discussed, 
the more will its deformity appear in its proper co- 
lours. But when your moral conduct is attacked, — 



14 



when accusations are directed not merely against 
your doctrines and against your capability as teachers, 
but also against your integrity and moral character, 
it is not to be supposed that any magistrates, who 
know the value of character, either to themselves or 
to others, and especially to the public teachers of re- 
ligion, could be so cruel or impolitic as to prohibit 
you from attempting your own justification. Your 
silence, then, on this occasion, must be attributed to 
some other cause. 

Speaking of the innovators in religion on the con- 
tinent, Mr. Bost affirms, " they conceal or discover 
themselves as their interest requires. They avow 
their opinions if they are favourable to them ; they 
conceal them, or even deny them, when they are 
openly attacked. They bend, they shuffle, they are 
silent , they intrigue, in one word, they lie." .... ec I 
have not attempted/' he adds, "to apply strictly all that 
precedes to the conduct of the professors and pastors 
of Geneva towards the church which has been con- 
fided to them. I have spoken in a general manner. I 
am astonished, however, to find that they are very far 
from being innocent in this respect ; * and I will cite, 
as a striking proof of it, a passage taken word for word, 
from a discourse pronounced to the Consistory, \kth J a- 
nuary, 1 819, by the pastor, M. De Fernex. I repeat it, 
it is not without astonishment that I have read the 
remarkable declarations which follow. " Geneva," 

* I except in all that follows, a small number of pastors and 
professors, who have no part in the line of conduct now under 
consideration. — B o s t . 



15 



said he, p. 20, c enjoyed for almost a century religious 
6 tranquillity; she could boldly submit her creed to the 

< examination of her reason, and separate the fundamen- 
' tal truths incontestably taught in the Gospel, from 
( those which are not of equal importance ; she could, in 

< attaching herself firmly to the one, suspend her judg- 
6 ment on the other, till new light permitted her to 
' pronounce upon them with more maturity. But this 
6 happy privilege she possessed unknown to the other 
c churches; content to enjoy peace, she did not aspire 
' to appear to have shaken off a yoke to which they 

< were every where else still too much subjected, to lead 
' her to hope that she would be able to make them relish 
' her principles. In the mean time, they accuse her 
c of swerving from the received doctrine, of giving less 
c importance to certain dogmas ; they press her for an 
' answer; she hesitates; she fears to be engaged in 
' quarrels ; they insist, and although decided in re- 
' maining faithful to the silence, that the circumstances 
c and the authority of the chiefs of the state imposed 
' on her, she allows in some degree her secret 

6 TO ESCAPE, WHICH, IF REVEALED AT CERTAIN 
c EPOCHS, WOULD HAVE REVOLTED THE MINDS OF 

6 men, (remark reader) and at others would not have 
6 caused any sensation, &c/ 

« Have we well understood !" continues Mr. Bost, 
" Have we read aright! The church of Geneva, making 
progress unknown to the other churches. The church of 
Geneva shaking off, without wishing it to appear, a yoke 
which others still retained ! and calling the profession of 
the ancient doctrines a yoke ! Her conductors having a 
secret! and allowing it to escape! as in spite of them- 



16 



selves ! consequently resolved, if they had been able,, 
to go still farther! A secret, which if revealed at cer- 
tain epochs, would have revolted the minds of men! 
Thus at such a time,, the church of Geneva was 
conducted in secret by her pastors, in such a manner, 
and towards such a point that, if she had known it, 
she would have revolted at it! See, my countrymen, 
how they have conducted you! See how the church 
has been led! even to the 14th of January of the 
present year," (I8I9.) 

Here a system of secret intrigue is laid open. Your 
condemnation proceeds from yourselves, and is dis- 
covered in such a way as leaves no room for denial. 
Do not imagine that all this can be explained away in 
the easy manner in which you allude to it. What al- 
teration can " the connexion," from which you say it is 
detached, make as to the system avowed in the fore- 
going quotation, from a discourse pronounced to your 
Consistory? It speaks for itself. To vindicate the 
line of conduct which it avows you have pursued, 
transcends, I imagine, your utmost art. 

You charge Mr. Bost with approving of every 
thing inimical to the pastors, cc even to the writings 
of Grenus j" and, a little before, when referring to 
this Grenus, you said, c we see with what kind of 
' succours the enemies of the Genevan clergy rein- 
' forced their ranks/ Connecting these assertions to- 
gether, your readers would be led to suppose that a 
confederacy had subsisted between Grenus and your 
other opponents. But, from Mr. Bost's pamphlet, 
page 74, the very contrary appears to be the truth. 
Afterwards having stated his decided disapprobation 



17 



of this writer, Mr. Bost quotes certain facts that Gre- 
nus has advanced respecting your conduct, which ap- 
pears, he says, " rigorously just." As these al- 
leged facts deeply arraign your moral conduct, and 
distinctly assert your want of integrity, your silence 
concerning them can be viewed in no other light than 
as a tacit admission of their truth. 

c Fifthly,' you say, c come the heads of the New 
' Church, as they are pleased to term it, who put out 
' several pieces all written with the same intention/ 
as the pamphlet of Mr. Bost. You give them credit, 
however, for the open manner in which they have 
acted in their separation from you. 

c Sixthly/ you observe, e that we may number, 
' amongst the antagonists of the Genevan clergy, the 
( pastors of Lausanne, who broke off all communication 
c with them; at their head was Dean Curtat, who took 
' every opportunity of speaking and writing against the 
' Genevans with all his wonted violence. He laughed at 
6 the attacks on his neighbours, which he beheld from 
c the height of his orthodoxy, as from an impregnable 
' fort ; he was ill able to conceal his joy when he saw 
' them insulted ; nor did he show much repugnance to 
' insulting them himself; but he no longer laughed 
' when the Methodists and young ecclesiastics, who had 
e caught their fanaticism, inveighed against his faith 
6 and his public instructions in the terms which he had 
' considered so appropriate to those of the clergy of 
' Geneva ; he now lost his temper ; his indignation 
'.was roused; with a voice of thunder he cried, shame 



18 



' on his aggressors, and he had recourse to measures 
c against them of much greater severity than those em- 
e ployed by the pastors of Geneva, which he had spoken 
' of with disapprobation/ 

c Seventhly, the Editor of the British Critic/ 

c Eighthly, the Christian Observer/ 

c Ninthly, The Archives du Christianisme/ 

c Tenthly, Mr. Meganel/ 

€ In the eleventh place, a little regiment of mid- 
€ die-aged ladies, armed with a small Bible/ 

6 Twelfthly, a host of Methodists of both sexes/ 

c In the thirteenth place, and, above all, M. Malan, 

< who, by his own pamphlets, and those of his friends, 

< and by his journeys and his preaching moved earth, 
c and almost represented heaven as uttering an audible 
c voice, to convince men that Christianity and infallibi- 
{ lity in Geneva were with him and his partisans alone/ 
Yes, Sir, the manner in which M. Malan has been treat- 
ed by you has moved the earth. Yet his great crime 
amounts to this, that, instead of " speaking smooth 
things, and prophesying deceits," he has, like the 
prophets of old, lifted up his voice to show the people 
their transgressions and their sins. Like the apostles, 
he has said, " Repent and be converted, that your 
sins may be blotted out/' He has preached among 



19 



you the doctrine that Calvin and your other first re- 
formers preached, by whose means your city was 
« elevated to a height of prosperity and glory/' from 
which it is your lamentation that she has fallen. But 
that doctrine, which is according to godliness, " which 
teacheth men to live soberly, righteously, and godly, 
and to look for the blessed hope, and the glorious ap- 
pearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus 
Christ," can no longer be tolerated by you. 

Besides exhibiting to your readers that formidable 
band, in thirteen divisions, which has made " succes- 
sive attacks on the church of Geneva," you have en- 
rolled my name as one of your opponents. I shall ever 
have reason to bless the Lord that I have, in any de- 
gree, contributed to recall the attention of the inha- 
bitants of your city to the Gospel of the grace of God,, 
from which they had so generally departed. From 
Geneva that Gospel once sounded out to all the sur- 
rounding countries, and to Geneva, perhaps, not one 
among them all is so deeply indebted as the country 
in which I write. This, were it possible, would en- 
hance the gratification which I feel in having been 
made instrumental in carrying back the light of truth 
to a place where it once shone with so much lustre, 
but in which it had unhappily been extinguished. 
To use the words of an eloquent speaker at one of our 
public meetings here, in reference to Geneva, " We 
borrowed from them, at the Reformation, the torch 
with which we lighted the fire upon our altars ; and 
cold, indeed, must be the heart which would refuse 
them a spark to rekindle the flame which now burns 
so dimly upon their own." 



20 



c A Scotchman/ you say, ' Mr. Haldane, a rigid 
' Calvinist, whose theological principles are to be 
' found in print, especially in his Commentary on 
c the Epistle to the Romans, in which those who 
' have the courage to undertake the task may 
c judge of his doctrines. — Mr. Haldane invited to his 
c house some students and ministers, occupied their 
e minds with the mysterious points of the Christian 
' religion, and inoculated them with his own exclusive 
< and intolerant spirit. He insisted so strongly on the 
' contempt with which reason, proud reason, ought to 
e be regarded, that one of his hearers, in going out of 
c his house, once cried out, c Yes ; I see plainly, that 

* in the affairs of religion, reason ought to be trodden 
6 under foot !' Mr. Haldane waged war so indiscreetly 

* against good works, that they were spoken of with 

* disdain in the discourses of his adherents, and in the 
4 pamphlets circulated to perpetuate his influence after 
c his departure/ 

The above paragraph contains four distinct allega- 
tions or charges. I occupied the students and mini- 
sters who came to my house with the mysterious 
points of the Christian religion. I inoculated them 
with my own exclusive and intolerant spirit. I in- 
sisted on the contempt with which reason ought to 
be regarded ; and I waged war against good works. 
For the truth of the whole, you appeal to my publica- 
tions. 

In order that what you refer to may be understood, 
and all misrepresentations occasioned by the above or 
similar statements obviated, it is necessary to be ex- 



21 

plicit and particular in my reply to each of your char* 
ges. I shall begin by adverting to the first allegation,, 
and shall fully explain how far I occupied the minds of 
the ministers and students who came to my house 
with the mysterious points of the Christian religion, 
and my reason for so doing. 

When I went to Geneva in the year 1816, one of 
the theological students having been introduced to me, 
we entered into conversation respecting the gospel. 
On every thing peculiar to it I found him completely 
ignorant ; yet in a state of mind that seemed to show 
that he was willing to be instructed. He returned 
next day and brought another student with him. I 
questioned them respecting the Revelation which God 
has made in his word, and respecting their personal 
hope of salvation, and the foundation of that hope. 
Had they been trained in the schools of Socrates or of 
Plato, and had they enjoyed no other means of instruc- 
tion than those afforded, they could scarcely have been 
more ignorant of the doctrines of the gospel. They 
had, in fact, learned much more of the doctrines of 
those heathens than of that of Jesus Christ. To the 
Bible and its contents their studies had never been di- 
rected. , 

While such was the deplorable state of religious in- 
struction in the Theological Academy, the school in 
which they had hitherto studied, nothing was heard 
from the pulpits of Geneva to compensate to the stu- 
dents for this woeful defect. The doctrines and the 
examples of the heathen philosophers, together with 
the recommendation of a very scanty morality, dress- 
ed up according to the oratorical art, formed the ge- 



22 



neral topics of preaching at Geneva, while the name 
of the Saviour of the world was rarely and slightly 
mentioned. In the smooth superficial harangues of 
most of the preachers, it is unquestionably true that 
cc the mysterious points of the Christian religion" had 
no place. Scarcely any thing peculiar to the gospel 
was exhibited. There was little or no allusion to the 
fall of man, or his ruined condition by nature : no- 
thing of the necessity of the New Birth, which the 
Lord urged so particularly in his conversation with 
Nicodemus as the only way of access into his king- 
dom ; or, if this doctrine was referred to at all, it was 
explained to signify mere reformation of conduct. The 
imputation of Adam's guilt being repudiated, the im- 
putation of the Redeemer's righteousness, and justifi- 
cation by his blood, were also set aside. The person, 
and the work of the Son of God were passed by. The 
work of the Spirit was overlooked. The strict pre- 
cept of the holy law, requiring perfect, universal, and 
unceasing obedience, which, if preached in its extent 
and spirituality, without the gospel, would drive all to 
despair, formed no part of the instruction. There 
was nothing brought forward to affect the conscience 
of a sinner, or to lead him to cry out, " What must I do 
to be saved ?" In short, what was preached was nei- 
ther law nor gospel. But all this w T as extremely pleas- 
ing to the people, who seemed quite satisfied with 
their preachers, by whom they were all addressed as 
Christians. They appeared to be in the state of those 
who are spoken of by the prophet, " which say to the 
Seers, see not ; and to the Prophets, prophesy not un- 
to us right things ; speak unto us smooth things, pro- 

1 



* 23 



phesy deceits. Get you out of the way, turn aside 
out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease 
from before us." Thus, as was said to Israel of Old, 
" A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the 
land ; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests 
bear rule by their means, and my people love to have 
it so ; and what will ye do in the end thereof?" 

As for you, Sir, in particular, I have been present 
when you preached, and I am free to declare, that ne- 
ver in my life did I hear the word of God so directly 
contradicted from the pulpit as in your discourses. 
You assuredly, above all, could not be accused of oc- 
cupying the minds of the people with the mysterious 
points of the Christian religion. No, you preach- 
ed indeed on the " mysteries," but it was to prove to 
your hearers that they had nothing to do with them. In 
your exclamation, " Ah, are we not born pure I" 
profound ignorance of the word of God was manifest- 
ed in a manner more gross than ever I witnessed 
either before or since ; and the whole train of your 
reasoning proceeded on this assumed principle ; a 
principle not more contrary to the express declara- 
tions of scripture, the conduct of Providence, and the 
whole plan of redemption, than to the universal ex- 
perience of mankind. Yet you are theological pro- 
fessor at Geneva ! ! 

The two students whom I first conversed with soon 
brought others ; their visits became so frequent, that I 
suggested the propriety of fixing a certain hour for 
them at stated intervals. Three evenings of the week 
were appointed for this purpose, and eight of the stu- 
dents commenced a regular attendance at these times. 



i 



24 



I took the Epistle to the Romans as my subject, and 
this portion of Scripture I continued to explain to 
them during the winter. After we had proceeded 
for about a fortnight in this course, I was earnestly 
solicited in the name of the other students to begin 
anew ; in which case, I was assured the greater part 
of the theological students would attend. I accord- 
ingly did so, and their attendance through the winter, 
and till the tirr < of their vacation at midsummer, con- 
tinued numerous and regular. 

The attention which these interesting young men 
very soon manifested to the word of God was more 
than I anticipated. The truth is, that any thing like 
biblical instruction was altogether new to them. The 
study of the word of God had formed no part of their 
preparation for the ministry. Every other branch of 
improvement necessary to qualify them as scholars 
and public speakers, appeared to have been attended 
to ; but a smattering of church history, some super- 
ficial knowledge of what is called natural religion, 
combined with a more extensive acquaintance with 
the writings of the heathen philosophers, was all they 
had attained in the shape of theology. As far as I 
was enabled, I endeavoured to lay open to them the 
rich stores of religious instruction, contained in the 
Epistle to the Romans, a portion of the word of God 
which, on the continent, is very generally considered 
unintelligible. 

In studying this epistle, I turned their attention to 
the great doctrines of the Gospel so successfully re- 
vived at the Reformation by Luther and his associates, 
as well as by Calvin, with whose writings, though 



25 



the founder of their church, they had no acquaintance, 
and whose theological sentiments they had been taught 
to regard as quite antiquated. In discarding the in- 
structions of these reformers, they had been led to 
understand that they were following the superior illu- 
mination of the present age. I did not attempt, how- 
ever, to make them disciples of Calvin, or of any other 
man, to say, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos ; but to 
bring them to be followers of Christ, to sit at the foot 
of his cross, and to learn of Him, who spake as never 
man spake. I therefore appealed to no authority, 
either ancient or modern, but solely <e to the law and 
to the testimony," always reminding them, that, " if 
they spake not according to this word, it was because 
there was no light in them." Is. viii. 20. 

With doctrinal instruction I connected attention to 
practical godliness, and constantly inculcated the ne- 
cessity of their paying regard, in the first place, to 
their own salvation. I showed them that they must 
have a right view of God as revealed in Scripture, 
subsisting in three distinct persons, * the Father, the 

* " If I am asked what is the exact meaning of the word per. 
son in this case, I answer that I do not know. Here the Uni- 
tarian usually triumphs over his antagonist ; but the triumph is 
without foundation or reason. If I ask in return, 6 What is 
the human soul,' or 4 the human body ?' he is obliged to an- 
swer, that he does not know. If he says that the soul is or- 
ganized matter, endowed with the powers of thinking and acting, 
I ask again what is that organization ? and, what is matter ? 
To these questions he is utterly unable to furnish any answer. 
Should he ask again to what purpose is the admission of the 
term, if its signification is unknown ? I answer, to what pur- 

c 



26 



Son, and the Holy Ghost ; infinite, eternal, unchange- 
able. I drew their attention to the character of God y 
as holy, just, good, and merciful, perfections which, 
in their combination, are all of them gloriously dis- 
played in the Gospel. I warned them against the 
loose and erroneous notions so generally entertained 
concerning the way in which mercy is exercised. God 
is, indeed, c< merciful and gracious," " he delighteth in 
mercy but while justice is an indispensable attri- 
bute, mercy is solely vouchsafed as he sees good.* 

pose is the admission of the word matter, if its signification is 
unknown. I farther answer that the term, in dispute serves 
to convey, briefly and conveniently, the things intended by 
the doctrine, viz. that the Father is God, the Son is God, and 
the Holy Ghost is God; that these are three in one sense, 
and one in another. The sense in which they are three, and 
yet one, we do not, and cannot understand. Still we un- 
derstand the fact ; and on this fact depends the truth and 
meaning of the whole Scripture system." 

* Claude, in his Essay on Justification, speaking of the hea- 
then, says, " It is false that mercy is a natural and necessary 
attribute in God. It is an arbitrary virtue in God, which he 
exercises with regard to the time in which it seems good 
unto him, and with regard to the persons towards whom 
it pleases him. So that were even an angel, that is to say, 
a spirit perfectly enlightened, to reason upon the conduct of 
God in the works of providence, he could not have conclud- 
ed that God had the design to bestow his grace that 
bringeth salvation upon the men who lived among the na- 
tions before the coming of Jesus Christ, nor that he would 
call them to repentance ; because that, although he might 
conclude, that there was in God some design to be merciful, 
yet there would ever remain this impenetrable question which 
could not be determined by the simple contemplation of th& 



27 



Accordingly, to fallen angels, God has displayed only 
his justice, while to fallen man he has declared him- 
self merciful. " The mercy of the Lord is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting upon them that fear him." 
Psalm eiii. 17- This mercy, however, is never exer- 
cised but in strict conformity to justice ; and mercy 
is not to be found but where justice has received full 
satisfaction. Here we were led to consider the state 
of fallen man, and his personal character as a sinner, 
as well as to an examination of the holy law of God, 
both in its perfect precepts and awful sanctions, and 
to see thai it is only in Christ that we can be redeem- 
ed from its curse and eternal condemnation ; and born 
again in order to participate in the blessings of his re- 
demption. 

In introducing and dwelling on the subjects above 
referred to, we followed the course traced out in the 
epistle we were considering. The apostle commences 
that epistle by briefly announcing what he intends af- 
terwards fully to discuss, that the Gospel is the power 
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, be- 
cause in it is revealed the righteousness of God. Un- 
less such a righteousness had been provided for them, 
all men must have suffered the punishment due to 
sin, seeing God hath proclaimed his high displeasure 
against their ungodliness and unrighteousness. These 

works of providence ; namely, if this design regarded the 
time present, or if it was only for the time to come. And I 
call this question impenetrable, because the exercise of mer- 
cy depends upon the free will of God with regard to time, 
place, and persons ; nothing can decide this but the revela- 
tion that God gives us of his will on this subject, and he 
does not give it but in his word." 



28 



are the great truths which the apostle immediately 
proceeds to unfold. And as they stand connected 
with every part of that salvation which God has pro- 
vided, he is led to exhibit a most animating and con- 
solatory view of the whole of that great plan of mercy, 
which proclaims c glory to God in the highest, peace 
* on earth, and good will to man/ 

The first point which the apostle establishes, is th e 
ruined condition of men, who by nature are all under 
sin. The charge of ungodliness and consequent un- 
righteousness, he proves first against the Gentiles. 
They had departed from the worship of God, al- 
though in the works of the visible creation they had 
sufficient notification of his power and godhead. In 
their conduct they had violated the law written in 
their hearts, and had sinned in opposition to what 
they knew to be right, and to the testimony of their 
consciences in its favour. All of them, therefore, 
lay under that sentence of condemnation which will 
be pronounced on the workers of iniquity in the day 
when God shall judge the secrets of men. The apos- 
tle next brings a similar charge of guilt and trans- 
gression against the Jews, notwithstanding that 
they had been favoured with the superior advantage 
of a written revelation. Then taking both Jews and 
Gentiles together, he exhibits a striking picture, 
drawn from the infallible testimony of the Spirit of 
God in his word, of their universal guilt and depravi- 
ty. Thus having proved that every man in his natu- 
ral state lies under the just condemnation of God, as 
a rebel against him in all the three ways in which he 
has been pleased to reveal himself, he arrives at the 



29 

inevitable conclusion,, that by his obedience to the 
law, no man living shall be justified ; that so far from 
justifying, the law proves him to be a transgressor. 

The way is thus prepared for the grand display of 
the grace and mercy of God announced in the Gospel. 
What the law could not do, not from any deficiency 
in itself, but owing to the depravity of man, God has 
fully accomplished. Man has no righteousness of his 
own remaining which he can plead, but God has pro- 
vided a righteousness for him. This righteousness is 
infinitely superior to that which he originally possess- 
ed, and infinitely transcends what pertains to angels. 
It is the fulfilment of the law in its penalty ; its com- 
plete execution; an end which cannot be attained by 
the punishment of creatures, who, after enduring the 
longest period of suffering, will not be able to say 
that they have finished transgression, and made re- 
conciliation for iniquity. It is also the fulfilment of 
the law in its precept by Him who ordained it, and 
who consequently by his obedience conferred more 
honour upon it than it could have received from the 
obedience of all creatures. Besides, the creatures can 
only yield to it what is due in each successive mo- 
ment of their existence; but the righteousness 
brought in is an u everlasting righteousness/' avail- 
able not only during the time in which it was per- 
formed, but through all eternity. No mere creature, 
nor indeed all the creatures together, could have in 
this manner fulfilled the law, either in its commands 
or threatenings, and far less in both. None but he 
who suffered on the cross, could ever say, it is finished. 
In one word, the righteousness provided for man, 



30 



which will place those who are invested with it near- 
est the throne,, and first in the song of praise, is, 

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GoD. 

This righteousness, although now only fully re- 
vealed, is not newly discovered. It was intimated 
in the first promise of mercy; it was more clearly un- 
folded to Abraham, the father of believers; the ex- 
ample and type of all who are justified, whether Jews 
or Gentiles ; it was prefigured in the ceremonial law, 
witnessed to by the prophets, and at length wrought 
out and fully displayed in the incarnation, the obe- 
dience, the sufiferings, and the resurrection of the Son 
of God. 

The righteousness of God is provided solely by 
grace, and received solely by faith. It is placed to 
the account of the believer for his justification, with- 
out the smallest respect either to his previous or sub- 
sequent personal obedience. It is " without law." 
e We conclude that a man is justified by faith with- 
c out works of law/ * 6 Now to him that worketk 

* The usual evasion that the Apostle Paul, in his discussion 
of the doctrine of justification by faith without the works of 
the law, refers to the ceremonial law, or to any part of the 
law that was peculiar to the Jews, was here noticed and ob- 
viated. When this Epistle was written, all that was peculiar 
in the law to the nation of Israel was abrogated. But the 
apostle declares, that the law to which, in this Epistle, he all 
along refers, (viz. the moral law of everlasting obligation under 
which all mankind are placed,) remained in all its authority and 
force, being in no degree weakened or changed, but, on the 
contrary, established by the doctrine which he taught. The 



31 



* not, but belie veth in him that justifieth the ungodly, 

* his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David 

* describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom 

* God imputeth righteousness without works. 9 So 
far from being contrary to the justice of God, this 
method of justification, " freely by his grace,"* illus- 
trates his justice, and vindicates his former dealings 
to men. So far from making the law void, it esta- 
blishes it in all its honour and authority. This way 
of justification equally applies to all, both Jews and 
Gentiles — men of every nation and of every charac- 
ter ; " there is no difference" here, for all without ex- 
ception are sinners. 

The contemplation of the glorious Person who ful- 
filled this righteousness, with whose character, accord- 
ing to the manner of the four evangelists the epistle 
opens, here occupied our attention — of him who " in 
the beginning was God," who assumed the human 
nature into union with the divine, whose earliest 
name, as Redeemer, is the seed of the woman; who is 
the Child born, the Son given, whose name is Won- 
derful, Counsellor, the mighty God. Every part of 

fiction of the introduction of a mitigated law under the Gos- 
pel, on account of the atonement of Christ, demanding only 
sincere, though imperfect obedience, was also exposed. 

* " He who affirms," says Luther, " the justification of all 
men who are justified, to be perfectly free and gratuitous, 
leaves no place for works, merits, or preparations of any kind ; 
no place for works, either of condignity or congruity ; and thus 
at one blow Paul demolishes both the Pelagians with their 
complete merits, and our sophists (the Arminians) with their 
petty performances." 



32 



Scripture, from its commencement to its close, fur- 
nished materials for proof on this subject. Our at- 
tention was particularly engaged by that remarkable 
passage, Rom. ix. 5, " Of whom, as concerning the 
iiesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for 
ever, Amen/' a passage which so distinctly marks 
both his divine and human natures, that nothing but 
the most obstinate prejudice and unbelief could have 
led men to oppose and to pervert it. 

We were led at the same time to consider the 
atonement which the Lord Jesus has made to divine 
justice for sin, and the absolute necessity of that 
atonement, in order to procure the salvation of sin- 
ners. The absurdity and inconsistency of the opinion 
of the Arians, concerning atonement, was pointed 
out ; which, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, un- 
dermines its foundation, as it does, of every part of 
the plan of redemption. The divinity and distinct 
personality of the Holy Spirit were likewise con- 
sidered; as was also his work in the application of 
redemption, so largely spoken of in the eighth chap- 
ter of the Romans. 

The doctrine of free justification by grace, Rom. 
iii. 24, Titus iii. 7, by the blood of Christ, Rom. v. 9, 
by Christ, Gal. ii. 17, and by or through faith, Rom. iii. 
28, &c. produced a most powerful impression on the 
students. We dwelt a considerable time on it, both 
on account of its importance, and because it appeared 
to be entirely new to them. This is a doctrine pecu- 
liar to the Christian religion, by which it is distin- 
guished from every other form of religion that ever was 
in the world. It is a doctrine, indeed, that is discarded. 



33 



as chargeable with the worst consequences by those 
who have false views of the gospel. But to them 
who are the " heirs of the righteousness which is 
by faith/' it operates with the most powerful effi- 
cacy,, both as a ground of consolation and as their 
great incitement to obedience. This the apostle 
abundantly shows in the beginning of the fifth chap- 
ter. 

The explanation of the fifth chapter opened a wide 
field of useful instruction. Here the blessed Accom- 
paniments, the Security, and the Foundation of justifi- 
cation are described. This last branch of the subject 
is interwoven with an account of the entrance of sin 
and death into the world, while a beautiful parallel is 
drawn between the first and the second Adam in their 
opposite tendencies and influences. By the first came 
sin, condemnation, and death ; by the second, right- 
eousness, justification, and life. From this compari- 
son, occasion is taken to show the reason why God had 
made the promulgation of the written law to inter- 
vene betwixt the Author of condemnation and the 
Author of Justification. On the one hand, the ex- 
tent, the evil, and demerit of sin, and the obstruc- 
tions raised up by law and justice to man's recovery, 
were thus made fully manifest : while, on the other 
hand, the superabundant riches of divine grace in its 
complete ascendancy and victory over them, in the 
way of righteousness, were displayed to the greatest 
advantage, and with the fullest effect. 

As this doctrine of the sinner's justification by faith 
without works, while it manifests in all their extent the 
guilt, depravity, and helplessness of man, in order to 



34 



magnify grace in his pardon,, might be thought to set aside 
the necessity of obedience to God, the apostle, in the 
sixth and seventh chapters proves, that so far from this 
being the case, that doctrine stands in indissoluble con- 
nexion, with the only foundation of holiness and obedi- 
ence. This is union with the Redeemer, through that 
faith by which the believer is justified. Whereas the 
law, instead of sanctifying, operates by its restraints to 
stimulate the corruptions of the human heart, and 
brings them into action, and at the same time it con- 
demns all who are under it. But through their union 
with Christ, believers are delivered from the law, and 
being under grace, which produces love, they are ena- 
bled to bring forth fruit acceptable to God. The law, 
however, is in itself holy, and just, and good, and spi- 
ritual ; as such, it is employed by the Spirit of God to 
convince his people of sin, to teach them the value of 
the remedy provided for sin in the gospel, and to lead 
them to cleave unto the Lord from a sense of the re- 
maining corruption of their hearts. This corruption, 
the apostle, by giving a striking description of his 
own experience, shows, will continue to exert itself in 
believers as long as they are in the body. 

The astonishing display of divine grace in the eighth 
chapter, detained us long in the consideration of it. 
As a general conclusion from all that had gone before, 
the believer's entire freedom from condemnation 
through union with his glorious Head, and his conse- 
quent sanctification, are both asserted, effects which 
could neither of them have been accomplished by the 
law. The opposite results of death to the carnal mind, 
which actuated man in his natural state, and of life 



35 



to the spiritual mind which he receives in his renova- 
tion, are clearly pointed out ; and, as the love of God 
had been shown in the fifth chapter to be so peculiar- 
ly transcendent from the consideration that Christ 
died for men, not as friends and worthy objects, but 
as without strength, ungodly, sinners, enemies ; so 
here the original state of those on whom such un- 
speakable blessings are bestowed is described as cc en- 
mity against God." The effects of the inhabitation 
of the Holy Spirit in those who are regenerated are 
next declared, together with the glorious privileges 
consequent on it. Amidst present sufferings, the 
highest consolations are presented to the attention of 
the children of God, and their original source and 
final issue pointed out to them. 

The feelings of the believer described in the close 
of this chapter, as viewed in Christ, form a remarkable 
contrast with what is said of him in the end of the 
former chapter, where he is viewed in himself. In 
the one view he mournfully exclaims, C( O wretched 
man that I am/' In the other he boldly demands, 
who shall lay any thing to my charge ? Who is he 
that condemneth ? Well may the man who has re- 
ceived the Spirit of adoption ; the man with whose 
spirit the Spirit itself beareth witness that he is a child 
of God ; who is declared to be an heir of God, a joint- 
heir with Jesus Christ, well may that man defy uni- 
versal nature to separate him from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus his Lord. Although at pre- 
sent the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
pain together, and although even he himself groaneth 
within himself, waiting for his manifestation in his 



36 



true and proper character, yet,, in the mean time,, ail 
things are working together for his good. The Holy 
Spirit himself is interceding for him in his heart ; Je*- 
sus Christy who died for him,, and who lives for him, is 
interceding for him before the throne : God hath 
chosen him from eternity, hath called him, hath justi- 
fied him, and will glorify him. 

The apostle had begun this chapter by declaring, 
that there is no condemnation to them who are in 
Christ Jesus ; he concludes it by affirming, that there 
is no separation from him. 

The contemplation of such ineffable blessings re- 
minds the apostle of the mournful state of the gene- 
rality of his own countrymen, who, though distinguish- 
ed in the highest degree by their external privileges, 
still, as he himself had once done*, rejected the Mes- 
siah. Nothing in all this, however, had happened 
contrary to the purposes of God ; his word had taken 
effect as far as he had appointed it. The doctrine of 
God's sovereignty is fully treated of in the ninth chap- 
ter ; and that very objection to it which is daily made, 
" Why doth he yet find fault?" is stated and silenced. 
Instead of national election, the great subject is na- 
tional rejection, and the personal election of a small 
remnant, without which the whole nation would have 
been destroyed, v. 27- So void of reason is the objec- 

* Read in a parenthesis, the words in the third verse, For 
I could wish (I was wishing or did wish) that myself were ac- 
cursed from Christ. In this parenthesis Paul describes his for- 
mer state of mind as similar to that of the Jews, to whom he 
wrote. 



til 



tion usually made to the doctrine of election of its be- 
ing a cruel doctrine. 

The apostle is thus led to the consideration of the 
fatal error of the great body of the Jews,, who sought 
justification, in part at least, by works, and not by 
faith alone. Mistaking the intent and the end of 
their law, they stumbled at this doctrine, which is 
the common stumbling stone to unregenerate men. 
In the end of this chapter, and in the tenth, it is shown 
how the Jews thus excluded themselves from salva- 
tion, not discerning the true character of the Messiah 
of Israel as the fulfiller of the law, and the author of 
righteousness to every one that believeth in him. And 
yet when they reflected on the declaration of Moses, 
that to obtain life by the law, the perfect obedience 
which it demands, must, in every case, be yielded to 
it, they might have been convinced that on this ground 
they could not be justified : that, on the contrary, by the 
law they were universally condemned. The apostle next 
exhibits the freeness of salvation through the Redeemer 
for the acceptance of all ; and the certainty, that all 
who trust in him shall receive it. And since faith 
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, 
the necessity of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles 
is thence inferred and asserted. The result corre- 
sponded with what had been predicted. The right- 
eousness which is by faith was received by the Gen- 
tiles, although they had not been inquiring after it ; 
while the Jews, who sought after righteousness, and 
who were earnestly invited to accept of it, had never- 
theless rejected it. 



38 



In the eleventh chapter, the doctrine of the per- 
sonal eternal election of the remnant of Israel is re- 
sumed, and affirmed in the most express terms to be 
wholly of grace, consequently it excludes every idea 
of work or merit on the part of man. A most con- 
solatory view is then given of the present tendency 
and final issue of the dispensations of God, in the 
bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles, and the 
general salvation of Israel. And thus also by the an- 
nunciation of the reception which the Gospel should 
meet with from the Jews, first in rejecting it for a 
long period, and afterwards in embracing it, the doc- 
trine of the sovereignty of Him who has mercy on 
whom he will have mercy, and hardeneth whom he 
will, is further displayed and established. The apos- 
tle concludes, by declaring, that God is the creator 
of the universe, the Alpha and Omega of all things, 
and by ascribing to him the glory which is due to 
him ; and for the manifestation of which, he will 
cause all things to issue in the final accomplishment 
of those great designs which he hath purposed from 
the beginning. 

There was nothing brought under the consideration 
of the students which appeared to contribute so ef- 
fectually to overthrow their false system of religion 
founded on philosophy and vain deceit, as the sublime 
view of the majesty of God, which is presented in 
these concluding verses of this first part of the epistle. 
c Of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all 
c things/ Here God is described as his own last 
end in every thing that he does. Judging of God 
as such an one as themselves, they were at first startled 



39 



at the idea that He must love himself supremely, in- 
finitely more than the whole universe,, and conse- 
quently must prefer his own glory to every thing be- 
sides. But when they were reminded that God in 
reality is infinitely more amiable and more valuable 
than the whole creation, and that consequently if he 
views things as they really are, he must regard himself 
as infinitely worthy of being most valued and loved ; 
they saw that this truth was incontrovertible. Their 
attention was at the same time turned to numerous 
passages of Scripture, which assert that the manifest- 
ation of the glory of God is the great end of creation ; 
that he has himself chiefly in view in all his works 
and dispensations ; and that it is a purpose in which 
he requires that all his intelligent creatures should 
acquiesce, and seek to promote as their first and pa- 
ramount duty. Passages to this effect both in the 
Old and New Testament, far exceed in number what 
any one who has not examined the subject, is at all 
aware of. 

Turning the attention of the ministers and students 
in the above manner to this instructive part of the 
word of God, I occupied their minds, as you assert, 
with the mysterious doctrines of the Christian reli- 
gion. I did this in the full conviction, that they are 
conducive in the highest degree to the interests of 
holiness, and that in no respect do they interfere with 
the responsibility of man. It is the doctrine of di- 
vine revelation rather than its precepts, which fur- 
nishes the chief means of advancing holiness. Love 
to God is not so much excited by the precept— thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God, as by the discoveries of 



40 



the excellencies of his character,, and of the abundance 
of his grace. 

When the Apostle Paul had, in the first eleven 
chapters of this epistle, dwelt at such length on the 
glorious and mysterious doctrines of divine revelation, 
he looked back on the whole with mingled astonish- 
ment and delight. Under the impression of these 
feelings, he exclaims, " O the depth, both of the wis- 
dom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are 
his judgments, and his ways past finding out." Far 
from judging as you do, that Christians have nothing 
to do with " the mysteries/' he delighted to expatiate 
on them, he designates them " the mercies of God/* 
and all his exhortations to practical duty are con- 
stantly founded on them. The distinguishing cha- 
racter which he assumes to himself and his fellow- 
labourers, is that of " ministers of Christ, and stewards 
of the mysteries of God." 1 Cor. iv. 1. 

Respecting what you affirm of my inoculating the 
students with my " exclusive and intolerant spirit," I 
shall deal with you as frankly as I have done in re- 
gard to the mysterious doctrines of religion. On the 
subject of what you call an exclusive spirit, I hold a 
very decided opinion. While errors in religion are 
endless, I am convinced that there is but one exclu- 
sive system of divine truth, but one foundation which 
God has laid in Zion, but one name under heaven 
given among men by which we can be saved — the name 
of Jesus, the great mediator. Hence a mistake con- 
cerning his person as God and man, will, if persisted 
in, prove fatal. This I inculcated on the students to 



41 



the utmost of my power. But I am also aware, that 
the Apostle Paul, in the very place where he affirms, 
that other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
has also declared, that on this foundation different 
materials may be built ; so that many errors may ex- 
ist in the mind of one who holds the fundamental 
saving truth. You will accordingly find this senti- 
ment fully expressed in my Commentary, vol. i. p. 18, 
where it is denied that Arians and Trinitarians can 
both of them be Christians. 

Besides an exclusive spirit, you impute to me an 
tolerant spirit. As to toleration respecting differences 
of opinion among Christians in articles not funda- 
mental, I taught a system the very opposite to into- 
lerant. To this I was directly led by the considera- 
tion of the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth chap- 
ters of the Romans. You will find a long article in my 
Commentary which carries forbearance towards all 
Christians as far as the Christian character can be 
discerned. The whole of that discussion is summed up 
in the following rules. Vol. ii. p. 248. 1. To do no- 
thing to preserve communion with our brethren which 
would mar communion with God. 2. To maintain 
communion with our brethren as far as we can do it 
without marring communion with God. 

In the above discussion, a distinction is all along 
made betwixt those who are weak in faith, and those 
who evidently have no faith. The subject is again 
taken up at page 248, and carried on to page 267;, and 
the difference between forbearance and charity, in the 
restricted sense in which the latter is frequently used^ 
is considered as well as the common errors that are 



42 



circulated respecting the precept not to judge others. 
The whole is placed in a point of view which I have 
no fear that you will be able to contravert. 

So much with regard to my intolerant spirit, if you 
understand, by the expression, want of forbearance to- 
wards Christians, or if it respects the judgment which 
Christians ought to form of men of the world. But if 
you mean, by intolerance, any thing that relates to 
action, as if I were disposed to persecute those who 
differ from me, or who oppose my religious sentiments, 
I must inform you, that I hold every approach to such 
a conduct in the utmost abhorrence. I consider it not 
more contrary to sound policy in civil governments, 
than it is to every principle of the Christian religion. 
That this has long been my fixed opinion, will appear 
by the following extract from my book of evidences. 
Vol. i. p. 63. 

ce The weapons of our warfare/' said the Apostle 
Paul, " are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the 
pulling down of strong holds and so they proved in 
opposition to all the powers of the world. Whoever 
then knows and reflects, that cc except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ;" and that 
" no man can call Jesus Christ, Lord, but by the 
Holy Ghost," will not suppose that shedding a man's 
blood or using violence of any kind, is the way to con- 
vert him, and to make him obedient to God. There 
is no need of laboured essays on toleration, to prove 
to the Christian, who studies the word of God, that he 
must not dare to use violence to promote the cause of 
the Gospel. Liberty of conscience to all men from 
each other is there written as with a sun-beam. And 



43 



whenever any real Christians, misled by the prejudices 
of the age in which they lived, or giving way to the 
depraved principles natural to the human heart, have 
resorted to carnal weapons to propagate their religion, 
they have always grievously erred from the faith, and 
have generally pierced themselves through with many 
sorrows. 

After all, I rather suspect that my principles are 
more tolerant than yours. I have reason to believe 
that it has not been from want of desire on the part of 
the pastors of Geneva, that some persons, whose reli- 
gious sentiments differed from theirs, were not ba- 
nished from your city ; and that had not your civil 
governors been more tolerant, and possessed juster 
views on the subject, this would actually have taken 
place. Had they listened to you, they would have 
been exhibited in the odious light of a protestant go- 
vernment, in the centre of civilized Europe, perse- 
cuting Protestants solely for their religion, while they 
tolerated and protected (and this they did most pro- 
perly,) Roman Catholics. 

Your next accusation respects the manner in which^ 
you say that I taught the students to disparage the 
use of reason in all that belongs to religion. Most er- 
roneous ideas are often entertained on this subject. 
Many affirm that nothing is to be received as truth 
but what we can fully comprehend, and that, as you 
would have your hearers to believe, we have no con- 
cern with the mysteries of the Christian religion. 
According to this opinion, what ought we to believe ? 
not the being of God, for " canst thou by searching 



44 



find out God ? canst thou know the Almighty to per- 
fection Job xi. 7. Not even our own existence for 
we cannot comprehend ourselves. By the same rule 
the holy angels would be excluded from contemplat- 
ing the stupendous plan of redemption. 

" All mankind readily admits and if they believe 
any thing, must every moment admit mysteries,, as , 
the objects of faith. This world is made up of atoms. 
What are they ? They have been defined to be cen- 
tres of attraction and repulsion. This definition, 
translated out of Latin English,, is, that atoms are cen- 
tres of drawing to and driving from; a definition 
which I believe would puzzle any man to unriddle. 
They are also defined to be solid extended somethings. 
What is the something thus solid and extended ? Here 
our inquiries are stopped, and an atom is found to be 
an absolute mystery. The world is made up of atoms. 
What binds them together, so as to constitute a 
world ? Attraction, it is answered. What is attrac- 
tion ? To this there is no answer. The world, then, 
on which we tread, on which we live, and about 
which we think we have extensive knowledge, is 
wholly formed out of particles, absolutely mysterious, 
bound together by a power equally mysterious. 

" These atoms constitute vegetables. What is a ve- 
getable ? c An organized body/ it is answered ; c the 
subject of vegetable life/ What is vegetable life ? To 
this question there is no satisfactory answer. In the 
same manner, we are conducted to a speedy end of all 
our inquiries concerning the mineral, vegetable, and 
rational worlds. Mystery meets us at every step, and 
lies at the bottom of the whole. If mysteries thus 



45 



are found every where in the works of God, can it 
be supposed that they are not found in the character 
and being of the same God? 

" I can follow him but one or two steps in his low- 
est and plainest works, till all becomes mystery and 
matter of amazement to me. How shall I understand 
his nature or account for his actions ? In these he 
plans for a boundless scheme of things, whereas I can 
see but an inch before me. In that he contains what 
is infinitely more inconceivable than all the wonders 
of his creation put together, and I am plunged in asto- 
nishment and blindness, when I attempt to stretch 
my wretched inch of line along the immensity of his 
nature. Were my body so large that I could sweep 
all the fixed stars visible from this world in a clear 
night, and grasp them in the hollow of my hand ; and 
were my soul capacious in proportion to so vast a 
body, 1 should, notwithstanding, be infinitely too nar- 
row-minded to conceive his wisdom when he forms a 
fly, and how then should I think of conceiving of him- 
self ? No, this is the highest of impossibilities. His 
very lowest work checks and represses my contempla- 
tions, and holds them down at an infinite distance 
from him/' 

Contravert these statements if you can ; and if you 
cannot, then learn how very irrationally you act, 
when, in preaching, you tell your hearers that they 
have nothing to do with mysteries in religion. 

The proper and only legitimate use of our reason in 
reference to religion, is to listen when God speaks, 
and to " receive the kingdom of heaven as little chil- 



46 



(ken/' which,, if we do not;, we shall never enter into 
it. This is the declaration of Him who cannot err, 
and it entirely comports with every sober conclu- 
sion of sound reason. Here, indeed, the Lord abases 
the cc proud reason" of man, reminds him that he 
is a creature, infinitely beneath the Creator, who 
works all things according to the counsel of his own 
will, nay, that he is a fallen creature, whose rea- 
son, as well as every other faculty of his nature, is 
weakened and disordered through the influence of 
sin. Nevertheless, he addresses us in his word as in- 
telligent creatures, and deals with us as such. The 
manner of God's procedure towards his people in the 
operation of his grace is in no wise opposed to the 
principles of their intelligent nature. The service 
which God requires of us is called a e< reasonable ser- 
vice." cc Judge not," it is said, ec according to appear- 
ance, but judge righteous judgment." But does this 
give us a license to turn upon the Creator, and to say, 
" Why hast thou formed me thus?" ee There are many 
things in thy word which I cannot comprehend, and 
which therefore I will not believe, nor regard, al- 
though uttered by thy voice." Our reason is given us 
that we may be able to ascertain that it is God who 
speaks to us, and to understand what he says, and that 
in the result we may, as his intelligent creatures, im- 
plicitly believe his declarations, submit to his autho- 
rity, and give ourselves up to his guidance. In this 
way we shall attain to all " the riches of the full as- 
surance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of 
the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of 
Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom 



47 



and knowledge. And this I say (the apostle adds) 
lest any man should beguile you with enticing 
words. — Beware lest any man spoil you through 
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of 
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
Christ, for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
godhead bodily/' Col. ii. 2. 

Look well, Sir,, to this admonition. If properly 
understood it would leadflyou to a view of the whole 
of divine revelation, very different from that which 
unhappily for yourself and others, you at present en- 
tertain. It would prevent you from ever again 
preaching such a strmon as that on ** the mysteries/' 
It would lead you to make a better use of your rea- 
son, than, while professing to believe the Bible to be 
a Revelation from God, to take the liberty of sitting 
in judgment on its contents, and of retrenching from 
it all that, in your wisdom, you conclude ought not to 
have been found there. Remember that " the world 
by wisdom knew not God /' that " God hath made 
foolish the wisdom of this world/' and that prophets 
and apostles taught " the wisdom of God in a myste- 
ry/' They spake not " in the words which man's 
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teach- 
eth/' c< Let no man/' say they, " deceive himself ; 
if any man among you seemeth to be wise in ihm 
world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise/' 
Yet, " vain man would be wise, though man be born 
like the wild asses colt/' Job xi. 12. 

But whatever you may think of my trampling 
proud reason under foot, be assured I never taught 
the students any thing so contrary to reason, indeed 



48 



so shocking to it, as to desire them to believe in a 
mere creature as God. I did not instruct them to 
honour a mere creature even as they honoured the 
Creator, John v. 23. I did not say to them, that to a 
creature belongs, and is ascribed in the Scriptures, both 
of the Old and New Testaments, every thing pecu- 
liar to Deity ; all the names, the attributes, the ac- 
tions of God, as well as all the relations which God 
sustains to his creatures. I did not teach them, that 
while Jehovah is represented throughout the Scrip- 
tures, as his own last end and object in every thing, 
that to a mere creature the same glory is also ascrib- 
ed, as the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the 
last, by whom and for whom all things were created. 
I did not say to them that they ought to believe, that 
in the beginning a creature was God, and was with 
God, and that all things were made by him, and that 
without him was not any thing made that was made, 
and that consequently he made himself. But I re- 
minded them that " He that built all things is God." 
I did not teach them the violation of the first com- 
mandment, by representing a mere creature as the 
object of universal worship, equally with the Creator, 
who has declared, c( I am Jehovah, that is my name, 
and my glory will I not give to another," Isaiah xlii. 
8. But I showed them that it is because Christ is 
(C over all, God blessed for ever" — that he is the ob- 
ject of the adoration and praise of every creature. 
" Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature 
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the 



49 



earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
them, I heard saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, 
and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, 
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." Rev. v. 12. 
It is written, u Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
and him only shalt thou serve." Matt. iv. 10. And 
it is only through the evil suggestion of one, of whose 
existence you are not aware, that man has ever been 
tempted to worship any other. 

I never taught the students any thing so diametri- 
cally opposed to the reason and the common sense of 
every reflecting man, as that the innumerable myriads 
of the human race are all " born pure," and yet that 
every individual among them, in every age of the 
world, and under all different circumstances, without 
one single exception, becomes sinful and impure, as 
soon as the powers of his mind begin to develop them- 
selves, and that in express contradiction to his nature 
and original constitution. Even the pastors of Ge- 
neva, you tell us, confess that all men are sinners. 

I did not instruct them to acknowledge the Bible 
to be a revelation from God, and at the same time to 
consider themselves at liberty to sit in judgment on 
its contents. But I showed them the folly, the daring 
impiety of summoning their Creator to the bar of their 
reason, and of receiving or rejecting the different parts 
of his word according to its proud decisions. I taught 
them that, being convinced that cc all Scripture is 
given by inspiration of God/' 2 Tim. iii. 16, they 
ought to search it with diligence, to study it with 
prayer, that God would open their eyes to behold the 

D 



50 



wondrous things which it contains, and to use them as 
rules of obedience, and as motives and encouragements 
in the exercise of it ; and in things evidently mysteri- 
ous, to bow in humble submission to the divine teach- 
ing, and to receive with adoring faith and love what 
they could not comprehend. In one word, I remind- 
ed them of the declaration of the apostle, which it 
would be well for you to ponder. " The weapons of 
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, 
to the pulling down of strong holds ; casting down 
reasonings, and every high thing that exalteth itself 
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into cap- 
tivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 
2 Cor. x. 4. 

I proceed now to consider your last charge of my 
having waged war with good works. I have in- 
formed you how I occupied the minds of the stu- 
dents in the explanation of the doctrines contain- 
ed in the first eleven chapters of the Epistle to the 
Romans, I shall here notice the manner in which 
I enforced the practical influence of these doc- 
trines from the last six chapters of the same epistle. 
The way to this had been prepared by the previous 
explanation of the sixth chapter, in which, as has been 
already noticed, the apostle vindicates his doctrine of 
justification by faith, without works, from the common 
objection urged against it, and reiterated from his 
time to the present, that it leads to licentiousness. 
So far from this being true, Paul proves, that the me- 
thod of justification by grace is that alone by which a 



51 



man can be delivered from the dominion of sin. Be- 
ing made one with Christ he is freed from sin,, both 
from its guilt and dominion. " Sin shall not have do- 
minion over you, for you are not under the law, but 
under grace." Rom. vi. 14. 

In the seventh chapter, the apostle explains what he 
means by not being under the law. The believer being 
dead to it by the body of Christ, (what Christ suffer- 
ed in his human nature,) and his marriage-union with 
it, as his first husband, being dissolved, he is married 
to him who is raised from the dead, that he may bring 
forth fruit unto God. In this way, he who is united 
to Christ is for ever freed from the law in its covenant 
form. In the deplorable circumstances in which we 
stand naturally, every man is subject to the precept 
of the law, and to the penalty of the law ; to its pre- 
cept binding him to perfect obedience, and to its pe- 
nalty, consigning him over to eternal damnation as a 
transgressor. But Christ has become ce the author of 
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him/' Heb. 
v. 9* He has ratified with his blood the gracious co- 
venant entered into with the Father, that covenant 
which we find so often referred to in Scripture. Re- 
ceived into this covenant all who believe are delivered 
from the covenant of works, under which mankind 
were originally placed, and under which they all con- 
tinue, till, regenerated by " the Spirit of grace/' they 
are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, made subjects of 
his kingdom, and become the cl lildren of God ; till 
then, they are subjects of the kingdom of darkness 
and children of the devil. 



52 



The way to eternal life by obedience, which was 
first pointed ont to man, is often spoken of in Scrip- 
ture. cc The man that doeth these things shall live 
by them." But, in order to this, he must not be 
chargeable with the slightest violation of the holy 
law ; he must be completely free from sin. As this, 
however, cannot be the case with any of the fallen 
race of Adam, cc for that all have sinned," Rom. v. 12, 
so on this ground no man can attain to eternal life- 
This was intimated immediately after the fall, when 
the cherubims and a flaming sword were placed to 
guard the way to the tree of life, denoting that, by 
the first covenant, it was no more accessible to man. 
But a new and living way of access to God is now 
opened. Jesus declares himself to be (C the way, the 
truth, and the life." " To him that overcometh," says 
he, " I will give to eat of the tree of life which is in 
the midst of the paradise of God." 

As, however, the law was originally written on the 
heart of man, so, even after it has been broken, all man- 
kind are like the Jews of old, still prone to seek justi- 
fication by means of it.* When, on this principle, the 

* " Even Satan himself,' 5 says Luther, "sometimes teaches the 
necessity of good works, and sometimes even proposes good 
things, to the end that men, resting upon their actions, good in 
appearance, may be kept at a distance from the faith of the 
Gospel. I cannot too much insist upon this, for you will find, 
after my death, that this artifice will be practised in a manner 
that you cannot at present suppose. Never imagine that by 
your works you can be made Christians. Christ is presented 
to us under a double point of view. First, he makes us child- 



53 



young man came to Jesus, and asked what he must 
do to inherit eternal life, the Lord answered a fool 
according to his folly ; but he did this in order to 
convince him of his real character. " If thou wilt 
enter into life keep the commandments." This the 
word of God shows to be impossible to man as a sin- 
ner. " As many as are of the works of the law, (seek- 
ing justification by their obedience to it,) are under 
the curse ; for it is written, " Cursed is every one that 
continueth not in all things which are written in the 
book of the law to do them ; but that no man is jus- 
tified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, 
for, The just shall live by faith." Gal. iii. 10. 

But while believers are no more under the law as 
a covenant, to give them either life or death, they 
are under it as a rule. In this view all of them 
thankfully receive, and endeavour to obey it. Being 
brought into union with the Lord Jesus Christ, they 
are become capable of serving him. Love takes 
place of servile fear. Their consciences are ee purged 
from dead works to serve the living God." Heb. ix. 

ren of God, this he effects by his word alone, without any kind 
of work on our part. If it is his will to come to you, then you 
will come to him, and he will save you by his blood and his sa- 
crifice. Satan hates this doctrine, and false teachers never 
preach it. Secondly, Christ is proposed to us as an example. 
If his word is in my heart, I am in possession of the great com- 
mandment, which is love. Nevertheless, it is not from me, a 
depraved creature, that he expects the fruits of love, except by 
the influence of that Spirit which has been imparted to me by 
the hearing of his word, and by believing in him/' 



54 



14. The leading motives of their obedience are love 
and gratitude"; and they are enabled to " serve in 
newness of spirit,, and not in the oldness of the let- 
ter/' They " have known and believed the love that 
God hath to them;" and they " love him because he 
first loved them." But, above all, they who belong 
to the covenant of grace, receive the promise of the 
Father in the communication of the Holy Spirit 
dwelling in them. God works in them to will and to 
do of his good pleasure. They are conformed to the 
image of his Son. " Thy people shall be made will- 
ing in the day of thy power." Psalm ex. 3. God 
" enlarges their heart, and they run the way of his 
commandments." Psalm cxix. 32. In their regener- 
ation and sanctification, no constraint is put on the 
will of believers, their hearts and dispositions being 
changed. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there 
is liberty." 2 Cor. iii. 17. " If the Son therefore 
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." John 
viii. 36. On such foundations I urged on the minis- 
ters and students at Geneva, the duty of observing 
the holy precepts, contained in the last six chapters 
of the Epistle to the Romans. 

In considering the duties of the Christian life, 
contained in the twelfth chapter, I endeavoured to 
enforce on their consciences, the necessity of prac- 
tising them, always keeping it in view that the 
whole of what the apostle here says, proceeds on 
the supposition that those whom he addressed had 
deliberately surrendered themselves to God, as not 
accounting themselves their own, but " bought with 
a price." In the winning language of the inspired 



55 



writer, they are besought " by the mercies of God/' to 
be no longer conformed to this world, but to present 
their bodies (themselves in whole) a living sacrifice, 
holy and acceptable to God, which is their reasonable 
service. A most beautiful delineation of the Christ- 
ian's duty follows. Humility, that distinguished 
grace, takes the lead, as in the Lord's sermon on 
the mount. Then follows exhortations to diligence in 
the employment of diversified talents, — to love,— fer- 
vency of spirit, — joyful hope of eternal life, — pa- 
tience, — prayer, — and the whole is summed up in an 
earnest recommendation of particular duties to bre- 
thren, to friends, to enemies. Produce to me, if you 
can, any thing in the writings of all pagan antiquity, 
that is comparable in the most distant degree to this 
portion of the word of God, either in the practice 
which it enjoins, or the motives which it suggests to 
enforce that practice. 

Proceeding to the thirteenth chapter, the duties of 
Christians to their civil rulers, as well as to their 
neighbours in civil society, were distinctly pointed 
out. The first of these, respecting that submission 
to civil government, so expressly inculcated there, 
and in other parts of Scripture, seemed to be as en- 
tirely new to the students, as the view formerly given 
of the doctrines of the Gospel. In the fourteenth 
chapter, their attention was directed to the line of 
conduct enjoined to be followed towards Christians, 
particularly with respect to things indifferent, or to 
minuter differences of opinion and acting. Remark- 
ing on what is there said concerning the difference 
of days, I took occasion to show, that the Sabbath 



56 



is not referred to ; and I entered very fully into the 
consideration, both of the obligation and of the right 
manner of sanctifying that day. This I found to be 
indispensably necessary, from having witnessed how 
grossly it is profaned at Geneva, and from observing 
that the students had not the smallest idea of its pro- 
per sanctification. 

In the forenoon of the Lord's day, the fourth com- 
mandment is solemnly read in the churches, and in 
appearance attentively listened to. " Remember the 
Sabbath day to keep it holy." In the evening the 
duty is forgotten, and the commandment trampled 
on. Even those who ought to be examples to the 
flock — those who must render a solemn account — even 
they are not afraid nor ashamed to profane the Lord's 
day. Instead of spending the evening of it in their 
retirements, in the duties of meditation and prayer, 
reading the Scriptures, Christian conversation and 
family instruction, it is passed at balls, in " soirees," 
in frivolous amusements, vain and idle conversation, 
or in playing at cards. A man who calls himself a 
minister of Christ, and who is looked upon as such, 
passes the evening of the Lord's day in one or other 
of these ways ! It cannot indeed be alleged, that, 
owing to this, family worship is precluded, for family 
worship, either on Lord's days or on other days, ap- 
pears to be unknown at Geneva, both among pastors 
and people. 

Under every dispensation, before and after the fall, 
God has appointed one day in seven to be consecrated 
to his peculiar service, and the command to observe 
the seventh day is inserted in the decalogue, with the 



57 



other precepts of the law,, as equally with them of 
everlasting obligation. The first Sabbath commemo- 
rated the completing of the work of creation,, the se- 
cond that of redemption. This day,, then,, (still the 
seventh part of time,) is now sacred to the memory 
of the triumphant resurrection of the Saviour, who, in 
the morning of it entered into his rest. Predicting 
the introduction of the new kingdom, when all things 
were to be made new, the Psalmist says concerniug 
it, " This is the day which the Lord has made, we 
will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm cxviii. 24. But 
to spend the evening of this day in spiritual duties, 
and in the exercise of spiritual joy — to seek on it 
something of a blessed foretaste of that heavenly rest 
which remaineth to the people of God, formed not a 
part of the religion of Geneva. " See that ye walk 
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the 
time ;" and it is added, " be filled with the Spirit/' 
Eph. v. 15, 18. Is it walking circumspectly, re- 
deeming the time, and not acting as fools ; is it the 
way to be filled with the Spirit, to spend the evening 
of the Sabbath in cc soirees/' in idle conversation, in 
playing at cards, and in dancing at balls ? This is in- 
deed waging war against good works. How different 
this from the manner in which God directs that the 
day which he has set apart for himself should be 
spent, and to the due observance of which he has an- 
nexed promises so gracious and encouraging. " If 
thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from do- 
ing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath 
a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt 
honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding 



58 



thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; 
then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I 
will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the 
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy 
father : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
Isaiah lviii. 13, 14. * 

With the remainder of the Epistle to the Romans, 
I proceeded in the same manner. From the begin- 
ning to the end of it, I entered at some length into 
every subject that occurred, which required to be in- 
vestigated, the knowledge of which, either as to doc- 
trine or practice, appeared to be necessary to the stu- 
dents. Among others, I did not omit to turn their 
particular attention to the deplorable picture it exhi- 
bits of the heathen philosophers, with the praises of 
whose doctrines and morality the pulpits of Geneva 
so incessantly resounded. In what a different light 
did the inspired apostle view them ! Professing them- 
selves to be wise, they became fools ; and as they did 
not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave 

* If the fourth commandment was openly violated at Gene- 
va, the precept and the threatening in the third were boldly 
set at defiance. " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that, 
taketh his name in vain." This commandment, as well as the 
fourth, is solemnly read every week in the churches there. 
Yet the name of God was in common conversation, even 
about the merest trifle, constantly in the mouths both of pastors 
and of people, in the incessant repetition of u Mon Dieu — 
Grand Dieu." If this be not to take the name of God in vain, 
what can be held to be a violation of the third command- 
ment ? 



59 



them up to a reprobate mind,, so that they were filled 
with all unrighteousness. By referring to their own 
writings, and the authentic history of the times in 
which they lived, I have shown in my Commentary 
on the first chapter of the epistle, that the dreadful 
account there given of the heathen world, and espe- 
cially of the heathen philosophers, is not an overcharged 
picture. In opposition to this authentic testimony of 
the word of God, it is lamentable to hear their doc- 
trines celebrated in nominally Christian pulpits, and 
their examples proposed as more or less models to those 
who call themselves Christians. It would be well if 
your preachers would learn to attach themselves to 
the Scriptures of truth, rather than to the miserable 
tenets of these heathen instructors, and to their still 
more miserable examples. I insisted on this point 
the more fully with the students, on account of the 
false views respecting it that were presented to them 
by their pastors, and the strong prejudices which, 
from the ignorance of their teachers in the academy, 
they had themselves imbibed. 

Necessarily connected with the pernicious and er- 
roneous ideas entertained of the heathen philosophy, 
I found it was a prevailing opinion at Geneva, that 
the Gospel was a very good thing, and calculated to 
be useful to those who attended to it ; but that the 
knowledge of it was by no means indispensable to sal- 
vation. This fatal error, so much calculated to lull 
men into security, and to strengthen their natural pro- 
pensity of resting their hope of salvation on their own 
works, I strongly combated, on the authority of every 
part of the word of God, both in the Old and New 



60 



Testaments. In referring to the Old Testament, it 
was sufficient to state the way in which God instruct- 
ed his ancient people to judge of the surrounding na- 
tions ; and, in referring to the New Testament, it 
was only necessary to point out the uniform manner 
in which the idolatrous Gentiles, and they who " know 
not God," are there spoken of. You will find refer- 
ences to all the principal passages which relate to this 
subject in my Commentary, vol. i. p. 67 ; — passages 
which speak a language more uniform and more de- 
cisive than many are aware of. 

You were not unacquainted with the nature of the 
instructions I was giving the students and ministers, 
so entirely at variance with those which they had pre- 
viously received. I was informed by them (for I did 
not happen to hear you myself) that at this time you 
preached a sermon on the case of Cornelius, as fur- 
nishing an example of a man who was accepted of 
God, without the knowledge of the Gospel. In order 
that they might not be misled by you in a matter of 
such magnitude, involving such important practical 
consequences, I immediately turned their particular 
attention to the history of Cornelius. The substance 
of what I advanced, you will find in my Commentary , 
vol. i. p. 144 — 151 ; and you may, if you choose, pub- 
lish your sermon on the opposite side, and leave it to 
others to judge whose views of the subject are most 
scriptural, and most conformable to recorded facts. 

In instructing the ministers and students at Ge- 
neva, I followed the example of the Apostle Paul, 
who first lays the foundation, in a full exhibition of 
the doctrine which furnishes the motive to action, 



61 



and then proceeds to the practice which flows from 
that motive. I explicitly taught them,, both from the 
Epistle to the Romans, and from the Epistle to the 
Galatians, that in justifying a sinner, and in the con- 
tinuation of his justification, God has no regard what- 
ever to any work of man, but solely to the work of 
his beloved Son, on account of which, and of that 
alone, he justifies the sinner the moment that he be- 
lieves in his name. In the former of these epistles, 
this doctrine is regularly stated and established ; and 
the conclusion already quoted, is formally drawn, that 
a u man is justified by faith without the works of the 
law." In the latter, it is particularly shown, that to 
attempt to do any thing, however little, in order to 
our justification before God, makes Christ of " no ef- 
fect" to us. Paul, who in other circumstances, had 
circumcised Timothy, and who, in this very epistle, af- 
firms, that in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avail- 
eth any thing nor uncircumcision, declares to those 
to whom he wrote, that if they were circumcised, in 
the view of doing something towards their justifica- 
tion, they would become debtors to do the whole law, 
and Christ would profit them nothing. In short, that 
to be justified, they must either rest solely on the 
work of the Saviour, or on their own works; there be- 
ing between them no medium and no possible co- 
operation. Keeping this point of essential moment 
constantly in view, I directed the attention of the 
students, as has been shown, to the holy precepts 
of the word of G od, declaring the necessity of good 
works in their proper place, and for their proper end. 
In one word, I taught that Jesus Christ is made to 



62 



all who are in Him by faith, not only justification, 
which is wholly by imputation, but also sanctification, 
of which he is the only source, but which he implants 
in the soul by the influences of his blessed Spirit. 
In justification, there is no change of the sinner's cha- 
racter, but there is a complete change in his state. 
In sanctification, there is a real change of heart and 
disposition communicated. Now, as both these bles- 
sings are provided for in the new covenant, which is 
ordered in all things and sure, it is impossible that 
they can ever be disjoined. 

It was at the same time constantly inculcated, that 
no unbeliever (a man not united to the Lord Jesus by 
faith) can perform what the Scriptures call, and what 
God acknowledges to be, a good work. The term, 
u good works," is never used in the New Testament for 
ritual obedience, or moral virtue, as practised by un- 
believers, or for any other good work than the fruits 
of the Spirit. How many who shall be placed at the 
last day on the left hand of the Judge, will be asto- 
nished to find that not one of the works they ever did 
shall be acknowledged good ! They may have per- 
formed many benevolent actions, expended large sums 
in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, but 
their works were not, in the true sense, good, because 
the right motive was wanting. " Ye did it not to me." 
Matth. xxv. 45. Doing any work to Christ is the 
proof of union with him, and in this case the smallest 
act of obedience to him, the giving a cup of cold wa- 
ter only to a disciple, because he belongs to Christ, is 
acceptable to God, and shall in no wise lose its re- 
ward. Matth. x. 42. The existence, or the want of 



63 



this union with Christ, of which every man's works 
shall be appealed to as the proof, will be the ground 
of acquittal or of condemnation in that decisive day. 

To constitute a work really good and acceptable to 
God, the action must not only be right in itself, but 
it must proceed from a right motive — the love and 
fear of God, and a habitual regard to his authority ; 
and it must be directed to a proper end — his glory. 
1 Cor. x. 31 ; Col. iii. 17- Without this every act of 
man, although, considered in itself, it may be material- 
ly good, is the act of a rebel, and consequently car- 
ries with it its own condemnation. Accordingly, it is 
said, ce The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination 
to the Lord," Prov. xv. 8, and all men, before justi- 
fication, are declared in the Scriptures to be wicked 
or " ungodly/' Rom. iv. 4. This character is ascribed 
to all, without exception, Rom. iii. 10 — 18, before 
they have received the righteousness of God by faith ; 
" till then there is none good, no, not one." Every 
man, before regeneration, is u dead in trespasses and 
sins." Eph. ii. 1 . The tree must first be made good, 
before it can bear good fruit. " A corrupt tree bring- 
eth forth evil fruit." Matth. vii. 17- " Without me/' 
says the Redeemer, " ye can do nothing." John xv. 5. 
" Without faith, it is impossible to please God." 
Heb. xi. 6. But where there is faith there must be 
holiness. " Faith purifieth the heart." Acts xv. 9» 
" Faith worketh by love." Gal. v. 6. " Faith overcometh 
the world." 1 John v. 4. " The fruits of righteous- 
ness, which are by Jesus Christ, with which believers 
are filled to the praise of the glory of God," Phil. i. 2, 
are the necessary accompaniments and evidences of 



64 



faith. " Show me thy faith by thy works/' says an 
apostle. These are truths which all believers must 
keep continually in view, remembering, that while it 
is solely by the work of the Redeemer, and not by 
their own works that they are saved, yet they are not 
saved without good works, if there be opportunity af- 
forded to perform them. Good works are necessary, 
not to procure a right to salvation, but as the appro- 
priate and indispensable duty of those who are justi- 
fied and entitled to salvation. Though not the cause, 
they are the inseparable consequence ; indeed, a main 
branch of his salvation who is called Jesus, because 
he saves his people from their sins, who saves both by 
water and by blood, 1 John v. 6, by removing the 
pollution of sin as well as its guilt. The disposition 
and ability to do good works are a part of salvation, and 
cannot, of course, be in any sense the cause of it. 

In his Commentary on the Galatians, Luther set- 
tles the true bounds and limits of the law and gospel, 
and distinguishes between acceptance with God, and 
personal holiness, which follows after. He shows 
that the former is received as a free gift, on Christ's 
account alone, through the medium of faith, and that 
it implies complete pardon and reconciliation with 
God ; but that the latter, which he insists on as equal- 
ly necessary to eternal happiness, is conjoined, but 
not compounded with the former ; that in this life it 
is always imperfect, but that it is pressed after and 
delighted in. "In regard to works," he says, "evange- 
lical faith does not set them aside, but directs us not 
to put our trust in them : It enlightens the con- 
science, and teaches men the principle on which they 



65 



are to perform good works, not from servile fear, or 
with a view to justification. Such works are not 
wrought under the covenant of the law, but of grace ; 
they are the effect of Christ himself working in us by- 
faith, and are therefore as necessary and indispensable 
as faith itself. 

" A true and lively faith is opposite to the feigned 
faith of the hypocrite, and a true faith incites a man 
to good works through love. He who would be a 
Christian must be a believer ; but no man is a sound 
believer, if works of charity do not follow his faith. 
Thus, on both hands, the apostle shuts hypocrites out 
of the kingdom of God. On the left hand he shuts 
out all such as depend on their works (either in part 
or in whole) for salvation, when he says neither cir- 
cumcision nor uncircumcision, that is, no kind of work, 
but faith alone, without any dependence on what we 
do, avails before God. On the right he excludes all 
slothful idle persons, who are disposed to say, If 
faith justifies us without works, then let us have no 
anxiety respecting good actions ; let us only take care 
and believe, and we may do whatever we please. 
Not so, ye enemies of all godliness. It is true, Paul 
tells you, that faith alone, without works, justifies ; 
however, he also tells you, that true faith, after it has 
justified, does not permit a man to slumber in indo- 
lence, but that it worketh by love. The liberty of 
the Gospel is an inestimable thing ; but take care that 
ye use it not as an occasion to the flesh. 

" Satan has not stirred up an evil either more ex- 
tensive or more destructive than this, namely, when 
men abuse their Christian liberty to licentiousness. For 



66 



the flesh does not understand the doctrine of grace. 
Therefore, when it hears that we are justified by faith 
only, it abuses and perverts the doctrine, by reason- 
ing thus, ( if we are without law we may live just as 
we please/ 

cc It is, however, very useful for sincere and pious 
persons to know and meditate on PauFs doctrine con- 
cerning the contests of the flesh and the spirit, Rom. 
viii. It is an admirable comfort to the tempted. When 
I was a monk, if at any time I happened to feel the 
motions of a bad passion, I used to think my prospect 
of salvation was entirely over. I struggled in a va- 
riety of ways, both to overcome the bad passion 
and to quiet my conscience. All in vain. The 
lust of the flesh returned, and I was harassed with 
thoughts of this sort, — c thou hast committed this 
or that sin ; thou art impatient ; thou art envious ; 
in vain hast thou entered into holy orders/ Now, 
had I rightly understood Paul's doctrine of the flesh 
lusting against the spirit, I should not have so long 
and so miserably afflicted myself. I should have re- 
flected and said, as I do at this day, in similar situa- 
tions, Martin, as long as thou remainest in the flesh, 
thou wilt never be entirely without sin ; thou art now 
in the flesh, and therefore thou must experience a 
contest with it, and this is agreeable to what Paul 
says, the flesh resisteth the Spirit. Despair not thou, 
then, but strive manfully against all carnal disposi- 
tions, and fulfil not their lusting/' 

On the whole, good works are the effect and the 
evidence of regeneration ; they are the way by which 
God conducts his people to glory, and qualifies them 
for the enjoyment of it. But it is not possible that 



67 

this important matter can be placed in a clearer point 
of view than in the following words of the inspired 
apostle, addressed to justified believers. ee By grace 
are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, 
it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man 
should boast. For we are his workmanship, created 
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath be- 
fore ordained, that we should walk in them." Eph. xi. 
8—10, and Titus iii. 3—5. 

Now, Sir, I ask, how you come to charge me with 
waging war against good works ? Where is your war- 
rant for such a charge ? No, Sir, I did not wage war 
against good works. The whole of my writings, both 
Commentary and Evidences, speak a language direct- 
ly the opposite of this. I appeal to them both, and 
affirm, that not only the necessity of good works is 
formally dwelt upon, explained, and enforced, in a 
multitude of passages, but that this truth is interwo- 
ven with the whole of their texture. It is again and 
again declared in them, that it is to men's works that 
the appeal will be made at the last day, when every 
man shall be judged according to his works ; when 
every one shall " receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." 2 Cor. v. 10. In short, ee whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to 
his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he 
that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life 
everlasting." Gal. vi. 7« 

That the above sentiments on this important sub- 
ject are contained in my Commentary, to which you 
have appealed, for the truth of what you advance, a 



68 



few references among hundreds that might be given, 
will sufficiently prove. 

The subject is fully treated of, vol. i. p. 74 — 80. It 
is opened by observing, ee that the Scriptures declare 
that men are not chosen, Rom. xi. 6, are not justified, 
Rom. iv. 2, 5, are not saved, Eph. ii. 9, Tit. iii. 5, 
by their works — that they are not saved according to 
their works, 2 Tim. i. 9, but that they uniformly 
teach that men shall be judged according to their 
works/' — See again, vol. i. p. 204 — 214. 

In vol. ii. p. 290, the character of the obedience re- 
quired of us is declared to be implicit, impartial, uni- 
versal. In vol. ii. p. 374 — 389; a whole chapter is oc- 
cupied in proving that the doctrine of eternal elec- 
tion is a motive to holiness. And the whole of the 
discussion, vol. i. 136 — 144, respecting what is said 
of justification by the Apostles Paul and James is to 
the same effect. It terminates as follows : ec There is 
no contradiction then between the two apostles ; Paul 
establishes the doctrine of justification by faith, and 
James writes against those who pervert it. The re- 
sult of their doctrines is this, 1st, The righteousness 
of God wrought by Christ, revealed in the Gospel and 
received by faith, is that alone by which men can be 
absolved from guilt, and reputed just by God. 2d, 
The fruits of righteousness that are by Jesus Christ 
which believers produce, are the proof of the reality 
of their faith ; they clearly evince the truth that they 
have received by faith the Spirit which has been pro- 
mised ; they show that those who bear these fruits are 
united to the living Head, and receive in consequence 
the praise and approbation of God, who is glorified by 



69 

them; and these fruits will be appealed to in the 
day of judgment to justify believers against all impu- 
tation of hypocrisy,, which will be established against 
all those who say they have faith, but who have not 
works/' 

Everywhere in the foregoing publications, as well 
as in my instructions to the ministers and students, 
and to many others who regularly came to my house 
at Geneva, I inculcated the necessity of obedience to 
God. It was always my aim to show that the whole 
tendency of the doctrine of grace is to produce so- 
briety, righteousness, and godliness. Titus ii. 11. I 
proved that the Gospel is emphatically and properly 
designated " the doctrine according to godliness/' 
1 Tim. vi. 3. I ever enforced the inspired maxim — 
ee He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 
1 John ii. 4. In one word, the declaration of the 
apostle — without holiness no man shall see the Lord, 
Heb. xii. 14, would be an appropriate motto to both 
my Commentary and my Evidences. 

The knowledge of the doctrines of divine revela- 
tion, and submission to the authority of God, act re- 
ciprocally in the advancement of each other. " If 
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
trine whether it be of God." John vii. 17. In the 
way of obedience, communion with God is promoted 
and enjoyed. " If a man love me, he will keep my 
words, and my Father will love him, and we will 
come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 
xiv. 23. 



70 



Besides referring you to my writings,, I may appeal, 
in justification of the soundness of the instructions I 
gave the ministers and students at Geneva,, to the 
happy effects that followed. It pleased the Lord; in 
his infinite goodness, to bless his own word to the 
conversion of a goodly number of them, who are now 
preaching the Gospel in different parts of the conti- 
nent, where the French language is spoken. On this 
subject I have received from several of them the most 
pleasing accounts, accompanied with every expression 
of gratitude for having had their minds thus directed 
to the words of eternal life. I may mention one, as 
his spirit is returned to him who gave it, who is now, 
I trust, before the throne, beholding him, whom, hav- 
ing not seen, he loved ; in whom, although he saw 
him not, yet believing, he rejoiced with joy unspeak- 
able, and full of glory. I have a letter from Mr. 
Rieu, late pastor of Fredericia, in Denmark, dated 
July 7, of which the following is an extract :— 

e Fredericia, July 7, 1819. 
fr Sir, and much Honoured Father in Jesus Christ. 

. . . . " I have at all times deeply engraven in my 
heart the instructions which the Lord vouchsafed to 
me the grace to receive from you, Sir, and which 
opened my eyes to the fundamental truths of the Gos- 
pel. Now that I am called by a benediction, for 
which I cannot enough praise the Lord, to teach them, 
as well as to nourish myself continually by them, I 
feel every day more and more the incalculable im- 
portance, and the absolute necessity of founding up- 



7 1 



on these truths all other instructions and exhorta- 
tions, if we wish that they should penetrate into the 
heart. There is the fullest evidence that they are the 
only ones that the Lord accompanies with his Spi- 
rit. The enjoyment which is felt in the reading of 
the Bible, which takes place of all other reading, is 
the certain proof of it. It is only when taking it for 
our guide that we can penetrate truly into the centre 
of the Gospel, and comprehend how this meditation 
can be our constant and entire occupation during life, 
without ever coming to an end of the discovery of 
new 'truths, and new causes and of subjects of praise, 
and of exalting the God of the Gospel. 

" To lead a parish of labouring people to Christ, is the 
work that the Lord has confided to me at this time. 
Not having heard the truth preached to them for many 
years, I found them in that state of lukewarmness 
and alienation which naturally follows the neglect of 
the Gospel. Love of their own personal righteous- 
ness, want of submission to the law of God, no feel- 
ing of their need of the Saviour, and therefore no 
thankfulness for what he has done — such, as you may 
suppose, are the difficulties I have to struggle with. 
.... I seek to dispense to them the mystery of god- 
liness with the greatest fidelity possible; above all, do- 
ing my utmost to accustom them to meditate for them- 
selves upon the Gospel — If your engagements permit 
you to send me a word of friendship, will you im- 
part to me all the counsels, exhortations, and di- 
rections, that you believe proper to fortify me in faith 
and piety in Jesus Christ. In my situation, insulated 
from all my brethren, I have greater need than others 



72 



of being roused by salutary advices ; I desire, above 
all, to make rapid progress in the knowledge of the 
Holy Scriptures, since these are our only power- 
ful arms, to convince, to overturn, and to build 
up. Following your counsel, I have resumed the 
reading of the Old Testament, and I have there found 
what I did not before know was there, when I was 
less instructed in divine truth, and when, in many re- 
spects, the veil remained upon my eyes, that Christ is 
every where in it, from one end of it to the other. All ren- 
ders testimony to him; the prophecies in particular 
were never presented to me with so much grandeur and 
so much beauty. O how admirable is this ! What 
perfection ! What agreement ! How is this work rais- 
ed far above all the impious attacks of men ! . . . I am 
very impatient, Sir, to have direct accounts from you. 
I recommend myself always to the continuance of your 
kind regard, and to your prayers. It is with a very 
lively sentiment of gratitude that I shall ever remain, 
Sir, 

And much honoured Father in Jesus Christ, 
your very affectionate, and devoted servant, 

C. Rieu." 

You see in what way Mr. Rieu expressed himself 
respecting the mysterious doctrines of the Christian 
religion, with which I had occupied his mind. Will 
you affirm that he neglected to do good works? 
Read the account that has been published of his la- 
borious and faithful discharge of the trust committed 
to him, by which he made " full proof of his minis- 
try," and of his happy departure from this world. 
In his death he has furnished an example of the 



73 



triumph of faith, which nothing in modern times 
will be found to exceed. A young man in the vigour 
of life, in the very midst of his usefulness in the 
service of his beloved Master, when his last illness 
commences, can with difficulty bring himself to be- 
lieve, that so great a grace should be vouchsafed to 
him, that when he had but just entered upon his 
work, the Lord should remove him from this world, 
and call him away by death. 

I subjoin the following extracts from the very in- 
teresting memoir of his life, in which you will see 
what were the views he entertained of God, of his 
Saviour, and of himself, which bore him up in the 
immediate prospect of appearing before his judge, and 
filled his mind in that solemn hour with such un- 
speakable peace and joy. 

" Jules Charles Rieu, was born at Geneva, of a 
distinguished family. . . . His life was a life of 
faith, he was always in the presence of the Lord; 
the earth was nothing to him but a place of passage, 
of trial, and of expectation ; and though he was so 
young, he thought habitually on that desirable mo- 
ment when he should be delivered from his mortal 
body to be with Christ, which he knew would be for 
him far better. He watched and prayed continually 
that he might be ready at whatever hour the Son of 
man might judge it proper to come. He wrote me 
when he was full of vigour and of health : — ' Let us 
study, dear brother, not to lose one single moment 
which the Master hath confided to us. How short is 
the time called life; and how much shorter may it 
not be than we are aware! Let us not place the 

E 



74 



boundary any longer at the distance of a year, a 
month, or even a week ; let us place it at the even- 
ing of every one of the days on which we find our- 
selves on the surface of this transitory world. Let 
us live and act every day, as if it were the last of our 
days. This calculation will not deceive us, and it is 
the only way of not being surprised/ He wrote this 
on the 15th of May 1821, and, six weeks after, there 
wm e time no longer' for him. 

*< On the 21st of June 1821, Mr. Rieu felt the first 
symptoms of this malady ; he was ready — death was to 
him only a messenger of good tidings. What had he to 
fear, or to regret ? ( The Spirit of God bare witness 
with his spirit, that he was a child of God/ He knew 
that his Redeemer lived ; that there is no condemna- 
tion to those who are in Christ Jesus ; and he pre- 
sented himself before his Judge, wholly stripped of 
his own righteousness, but clothed in the wedding 
robe; holy through the holiness of his Saviour, and 
righteous through his righteousness. He left his re- 
latives and friends, but it was to go to be for ever 
with a better and still more tender Friend, in whose 
bosom he hoped very soon to see again those whom 
he preceded only a few moments : he left his dear 
flock without a visible conductor, but he left it in the 
hands of the sovereign shepherd; — he was therefore 
free from uneasiness. 

The same day he wrote to the elders of his con- 
sistory the letter which follows, with the exception of 
a few lines of a purely private nature — 

Fredericia, June 21, 1821. 
Sirs,— Dearly beloved Elders, and dearly belov- 



75 



ed brethren of the French Reformed Church of Fre- 
dericia : — 

" Being seized to-day with the symptoms of a 
distemper which has already laid many of our bre- 
thren in the grave, I think it proper to leave with 
you some important instructions, should it be the 
will of the Lord to take me to himself. 

t€ All my papers of every kind are to be sent to my 
relations without delay ; I will bless the Lord if t^ey 
derive any edification from them. 

" At present, my dear parishioners, I have only a 
single word to say to you ; it is to repeat to you what 
you must already know — that which will occupy my 
thoughts even unto death — it is, that I have loved 
you, and love you still with all my soul; I have 
prayed, and will pray for you with my latest breath. 
I trust I have manifested my affection in preaching 
to you the word of God, such as I believed it in my 
conscience and before God. Before preparing the 
nourishment which I was appointed to give you, I 
constantly prostrated myself at the foot of the throne 
of grace, to beseech the sovereign Bishop of Souls, to 
speak to you himself by my mouth, and not to per- 
mit me to mingle a single thought of my own. Alas ! 
I am persuaded, that, but for my unbelief, the Lord 
would have in a much greater degree perfected his 
strength in my weakness, and would have more ex- 
clusively exhorted you himself. Nevertheless I have 
this firm and perfect confidence, that He who has 
chosen me (me, an unworthy creature, conceived and 
born in sin and iniquity, dead and condemned more 
than a thousand times through my errors and my 
sins,) is faithful, in having granted to me to build 



76 



upon the only foundation, Christ crucified; and that, 
notwithstanding the numerous imperfections and pol- 
lutions which, in a thousand instances, stain my work, 
will keep what I have committed to him unto the end, 
and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom; and 
this the more assuredly, that I lay myself at this mo- 
ment at the foot of his cross, fully and completely 
renouncing my own righteousness, which from first to 
last is but as the most filthy rags, and solemnly de- 
claring before God, that I acknowledge Jesus Christ, 
God blessed for evermore, as my only Saviour, who, 
by his blood shed upon the cross, has cleansed me 
from all iniquity, and purified me by his Spirit, so 
that I can appear before him in righteousness. With 
the publican, I smite my breast, under a deep sense 
of my transgressions, and I cry out, like the crucified 
and converted thief, c Lord, remember me in thy 
kingdom/ 

" Death, however, will be to me the happiest mo- 
ment of my life ; although I feel myself in a strait 
betwixt two — that I might instruct still those souls 
which the Lord has entrusted to me ; but I likewise 
repeat, from the bottom of my heart, ' my sincere 
desire is to depart, to be with Christ, which is for me 
far better/ Certainly if he takes me to himself at so 
early a period, it is still a favour for which I cannot 
sufficiently humble myself before him, and sing songs 
of praise. What was I, Oh ! my God, that the con- 
flict should so soon be finished, before having resisted 
even unto blood, in fighting against sin. 

" My dear parishioners, take heed ! — I have declared 
to you the counsel of God; it is true, (and I am 
humbled, and lament for it before the cross,) with a 



77 



great deal too much weakness,, and fear of men; and^ 
above all, my conscience reproaches me with not hav- 
ing sufficiently imitated the example of the apostle, 
in exhorting each of you in particular, from house to 
house; but nevertheless you can bear me witness, 
that I have never been ashamed of Christ crucified, 
in speaking his word to you from the pulpit. His 
kingdom is therefore come nigh unto you ; the arches 
of the edifice where you worship will attest it. Oh! 
how much did I wish that all had listened to this 
word of life, which alone can save your souls ! What 
delight would it have given me if many had been 
converted to Christ ! Hear ! hear his voice while it is 
to-day. I cry this to you from the recesses of my 
tomb. If you hear not you would not be persuaded 
f though one should rise from the dead in your pre- 
sence/ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his 
word shall not pass away. O Christ ! save them, and 
pray for them, as thou hast vouchsafed to pray for 
me. 

" Farewell, then, my dear parishioners! I com- 
mend you to God, and the word of his grace : watch 
and pray for yet a little time, and He that shall 
come will come for you likewise. We shall see each 
other in a very short time, before the tribunal of 
Christ. . . . Even unto my latest breath I will pray 
God for you all, whom I love with the most tender 
affection. May grace and peace be and remain upon 
you henceforth, and for ever. I remain, deeply af- 
fected by all the marks of attachment you have given 
me, your devoted pastor, 

Charles Rieu/ 5 



78 



He took to his bed on the 22(1, and on Sunday, 
the 24th June, he wrote with his pencil the following 
journal : — 

" Journal addressed to my family, to show them 
the progress of events during my sickness, if it 
please the Lord to grant me the favour of withdraw- 
ing me from this world. It is to be sent along with 
the letter written on the evening of the 21st. (Sun- 
day, June 24, 1821.) ... I cannot say that I feel the 
smallest pain. The physician thinks me better to- 
day, (Sunday,) nevertheless, as there have been so 
many instances of danger re-appearing suddenly and 
unawares, I shall not in any wise regret having 
scribbled, from affection, these sheets for you. My 
soul enjoys an unutterable peace and joy. If any 
thing would make me count upon recovery, it is the 
immensity of that grace which would be manifested 
towards me by so speedy a removal, almost before en- 
gaging in the combat. At present, I cry more for 
this, I think more than for the other blessing; for 
this crowns the whole : Who am I ? I, the most un- 
worthy and most polluted of creatures, who am I, 
that so much love should have been bestowed upon 
me ? I would owe for it undoubtedly more gratitude 
than for any other blessing. I have done nothing to 
deserve it ; but what say I ? rather, is not all, all 
absolutely gratuitous ? It will be pleasant for me to 
speak to you from time to time, in short and rapid 
sentences; this brings me nearer to you, and to 
speak to you of God; for it is he alone whom we 
must regard in all this work, and learn to listen to his 
voice and to follow it. 



79 

" A little later. — Some symptoms rather more se- 
rious ; the same tranquillity of mind. I know in 
whom I have believed. I advance with a joy inde- 
scribable into the dark valley,, for I advance towards 
Jesus, towards my God., towards Christ who has con- 
quered for us. All his promises converge in one 
point, to overflow my soul with a joy I never felt be- 
fore. No, he has not deceived us. Happy those 
who have believed without having seen ; I go to see 
him as he is. I see him already. I feel his hand 
supporting every part of my soul; in proportion as 
this clay falls, the inward man is renewed; I go to 
be changed into his image, to be like unto him. 
There, where is no mourning ! How I could wish 
to make this joy pass into your souls ! But it is there 
where you will enjoy it, and it is he who will now 
console you ; for I am not separated from you ; the 
moment when I fall asleep here, I see with you 
Christ coming in the clouds. May you all sleep in 
him — adieu to all ! O my well-beloved, a little hope. 
That happy moment is now arrived for which I sigh- 
ed so earnestly — in which I habitually placed my 
greatest delight. Oh ! how good art thou, Lord ! 
Thy presence fills me with joy. — Resurrection and 
life. — Eternity, eternity with Jesus. So loved with- 
out having seen him ! What shall this be ! I am over- 
come ! 

ec The last thing which could still slightly oppress 
my conscience, was to give a warning to openly avow- 
ed sinners, which I had neglected in consequence of 
late circumstances. I have just caused them to be 



80 



admonished by the means of my elders, so that I feel 
assured their blood will not be imputed to me. 

" My peace is from henceforth pure and perfect, 
and without alloy ; my joy surpasses all understand- 
ing. I only desire to communicate it to you, in order 
that you may pant after it. Assuredly it is not to be 
found in the noisy circles of the world; and its track 
has not been pointed out by the philosophers of the 
age. No, no ; it is thou alone who givest it, O God, 
God the Saviour, God the Comforter. Praised, prais- 
ed, praised for ever, be the name of thy glory ! Still 
Sabbath morning, I will not write any more till to- 
morrow/' — (Here the journal ends.) 

cc I will not," says his biographer, (C weaken the 
feelings which the reading of the foregoing must ex- 
cite, by attempting to describe them; I would mere- 
ly call to remembrance, that he who thus wrote three 
days before a death which he foresaw, was not 29 
years of age, and saw before him a useful, pleasant, 
and happy life, even according to the estimation of 
the world. — Monday the 25th he was seized with deli- 
rium, and onThursday the 28th, at half-past one o'clock 
in the morning, his soul entered into the joy of his 
Lord." 

Towards the end of the session, and when the time 
arrived that the students were to be ordained, it be- 
came sufficiently apparent that they knew something 
else besides the morality recommended by heathen 
philosophers and nominal Christians. You found 
they could do more than deliver a smooth harangue, 
inculcating the observance of a scanty morality, ac- 



81 



eompanied with the studied attitudes of a comedian 
to give it stage effect. They had begun to take him 
for their model, whose speech and preaching was not 
with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in de- 
monstration of the spirit and of power. They could 
address their hearers in a style different from the 
smooth language of the Genevan pulpit, as if all were 
Christians, all very good sort of people, who needed 
only to be reminded to go on as they were doing in 
the performance of their duties, or who at most re- 
quired some little reformation. They could tell them 
they were guilty sinners, lying in the ruins of the 
fall, and as being one with the first Adam, involved 
in his condemnation. But, at the same time, they 
could direct them to the Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sin of the world. They could declare to 
them, that whosoever believeth in him hath eternal 
life. They could point out to them the necessity of 
being born again, of being washed in that fountain 
which is " opened to the house of David and to the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for unclean- 
ness." 

Addressing believers, they could remind them of 
the grace of God vouchsafed to them, of their infinite 
obligations to him who is the absolute sovereign, 
who dispenses his favours as he sees good, who, in his 
adorable kindness to them, had made them to differ 
from others who had redeemed them from all iniqui- 
ty, and purified them to himself a peculiar people 
zealous of good works — who had made them a chosen 
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, to show 
forth the praises of him who had called them out of 
darkness into his marvellous light, which in time 



82 



past were not a people,, but were now the people of 
God ; which had not obtained mercy, but now had ob- 
tained mercy. For their humiliation, as well as en- 
couragement, these preachers could call their atten- 
tion to the great plan of redemption formed by infi- 
nite wisdom in the counsels of eternity, conducted 
with the same infinite wisdom in all the steps of its 
progress, and happily accomplished by the exertion of 
infinite power. They could remind them that the 
glory of God is his last great end in the work of re- 
demption, in which he has " magnified his word above 
all his name" And that the whole is designed 
not merely to command the admiration of men, but 
" to the intent that now unto the principalities and 
powers in heavenly places might be known, by the 
church, (God's dealings towards it,) the manifold wis- 
dom of God." Eph. iii. 10. 

They could urge upon Christians the duty of search- 
ing the Scriptures in which, as in a glass, this glory 
is exhibited. They could remind them that the Bible 
does not come to ask their opinion of its contents, 
but presents a constitution of divine grace, which it 
was their unspeakable privilege to receive, although 
neither their limited faculties, nor their imperfect 
knowledge, enabled them fully to comprehend it. 
They could teach them that God does not act in the 
salvation of men as if he were making a compact with 
them, to bestow certain advantages on his part in ex- 
change for certain services for theirs, but that, as a 
sovereign, he confers on them unmerited blessings. 
Every part of the new covenant has been designed, 
entered into, and carried into effect in the eternal 



83 



counsels,, and by the joint co-operation of the Triune 
God; and its blessings are conveyed to man in the 
way of absolute unconditional promises. The wages 
of sin, what it merits and what it conducts to, is 
death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

€C Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of 
God." What a solid foundation is here laid for humi- 
lity, love, and gratitude. These are the true sources 
of an evangelical, an acceptable obedience to God. 
On the ground of such motives, the students and mi- 
nisters could urge on all who had received the spirit 
of adoption, the various and important duties of the 
Christian life. They could call on them to imitate 
him who desired to be found in Christ, not having 
his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that 
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteous- 
ness which is of God by faith, who forgetting those 
things which were behind reached forward to those 
things that were before. They could remind them, 
that although it did not yet appear what they should 
be, yet they knew, that when he appeared they 
would be like him, for they should see him as he is. 
And they could confidently impress it upon them as 
the infallible testimony of the Spirit of God, that 
" every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth 
himself even as he is pure." That such must be the 
Christian's employment through life, such his model 
and standard of duty. 

But this doctrine of salvation, possessed of such in- 
comparable energy, and when carried home to the 



84 



heart by divine influence,, accompanied with such sig- 
nal effects ; this doctrine, which had for so long a pe- 
riod been unknown in the pulpits of Geneva, and 
which formed such a contrast to what was there held 
forth in its Arian, semi-Arian, Pelagian, Arminian, 
insipid nothingness, could not be borne among you. 
When it unexpectedly burst on you in one of your 
temples, " to the amazement of the hearers," it was 
like a clap of thunder. I shall not soon forget the 
astonished, chagrined, irritated, indignant countenan- 
ces of some who were present. Many seemed to say 
as the Athenians did when Paul preached to them, 
ei thou bringest strange things to our ears." But far 
were those, who " seemed to be pillars," from add- 
ing, " We would know, therefore, what these things 
mean, and we will hear thee again of this matter." 
An interdict against appearing in the pulpit was soon 
after laid on the preacher, who, on account of his per- 
severance in well-doing, has been since divested of all 
his offices, and driven as far as the apostate church of 
Geneva has been able to pursue him. Its language to 
him from that day to the present has been similar to 
that directed to the prophet of old, " O, thou seer, 
go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there 
eat bread, and prophesy there. But prophesy not 
again any more at Bethel ; for it is the king's chapel, 
and it is the king's court." Amos vii. 12. 

But as it was known that this preacher was not the 
only one who could bring strange things to the ears 
of the people, and whom much learning seemed to 
have made mad, the far-famed articles of May 3, 1817, 
were now hatched and brought forward to be signed 
by every minister before he should be allowed " to 



85 



exercise the pastoral functions/' and by every student 
before he should be " set apart for the Gospel minis- 
try" in the Canton of Geneva. 

The regulation entire, together with the prelimi- 
nary remark, as given by yourself, is as follows : 

u The pastors of the church of Geneva, imbued 
with a spirit of humility, peace, and Christian chari- 
ty, and convinced that the existing circumstances of 
the church, entrusted to their care, demand, on their 
part, wise and prudent measures, have resolved, with- 
out giving any judgment on the following questions, 
or restraining in any degree the liberty of opinion, to 
require the students who desire to be set apart for 
the Gospel ministry, and the ministers who aspire to 
exercise the pastoral functions, to enter into the fol- 
lowing engagement : — We promise, as long as we re- 
side, and preach in the Canton of Geneva, to abstain 
from discussing, either in whole discourses, or in parts 
of our discourses, the subjoined topics : 

1st, The manner in which the Divine Nature is 
united to the Person of Jesus Christ. 

2 dry, Original Sin. 

Sdly, The Operation of Grace, or Effectual Calling a 
4thly, Predestination. 

We engage also not to oppose in our public dis- 
courses the sentiments of any minister or pastor on 
these subjects. 



86 



" Lastly,, We promise, that if we should be led to 
mention these topics,, we will do so without expatiat- 
ing on our own views,, or departing more than is un- 
avoidable from the words of the Holy Scriptures." 

c The above regulation, you tell us., was everywhere 
c represented as an instrument of tyranny ; it was de- 
6 clared to be imposed by force, and signatures to it 
< exacted ; the clergy of Geneva were reproached with 
c it as a demonstration of their heresy/ And never,, 
assuredly were representations and declarations more 
just, or reproaches more deserved. It is pretended, you 
say, that this regulation is so obscure that it is suscep- 
tible of thirty different interpretations. This may be 
true, but one meaning at least is obvious, according 
to which it is so framed, as completely to exclude 
from your pulpits " the glorious Gospel of the blessed 
God," and to perpetuate, undisturbed, a system of 
preaching, which has long prevailed there, and which 
has more affinity to Mahometanism than to Christ- 
ianity. c The regulation/ you add, c ill understood 
c -and unexplained, occasioned a violent outcry/ Hi- 
therto, indeed, it does appear to have been ill under- 
stood by some, who otherwise would sooner have thrust 
their hands into the flames than have employed them 
to sign such articles. In a letter subjoined, which I 
have received from a friend, you will find the whole 
fully explained, and its malignity detected. As the 
subject, however, merits particular attention, I shall 
not allow it to pass without some remarks. 

The divinity of the Saviour, original sin, the opera- 
tion of divine grace, effectual calling, and predestina- 



87 



tion, are the topics which preachers at Geneva are 
bound by this regulation to abstain from discussing. 
The first article, it is true, is worded in a most artful 
manner. On a superficial view, it would seem that 
the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ is admitted, and 
that you merely desire to exclude a vain intrusion in- 
to things not revealed. But when it is recollected 
that the principal framers of this article are decided 
Arians, and that they have here resorted to a most 
dishonest artifice in using the words divine nature in an 
equivocal sense ; and when, in connexion with this, 
it is remembered what a violent opposition was made 
to the introduction into the pulpit of the subject of the 
Eternal Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ, on one 
solitary occasion, when it was not pretended that any 
vain speculation was entered into respecting the man- 
ner of the union of the divine and human natures ; it 
becomes sufficiently manifest, that it is against this 
doctrine that the blow is struck, and that the dis- 
cussion of it is actually interdicted. If any doubt of 
this remain, it must be removed when the other ar- 
ticles are considered. These stand not only in inse- 
parable connexion with each other, but also with the 
doctrine of the divinity of the Son of God. In order, 
then, to detect the mystery of iniquity contained in 
your regulation, it is necessary to observe this con- 
nexion, and to consider the place that each of these 
articles holds in the plan of redemption. 

The Gospel of the grace of God is adapted to the 
state and circumstances of man. God views him as 
he really is, a ruined, guilty, condemned rebel, who 
has neither the means nor the inclination to restore 



88 



himself to the divine favour. In the Scriptures, the 
lost condition of man is written as with a sun-beam, 
often explicitly asserted, and everywhere implied. 
He is declared to be ec shapen in iniquity, and con- 
ceived in sin." Psalm li. 5. " Estranged from the 
womb, speaking lies." Psalm lviii. 3. " Dead in 
trespasses and sins — influenced by the devil — by na- 
ture a child of wrath." Eph. ii. 1, 3. This fact of 
all men's ruined condition is fully exhibited in Rom. 
v. 12 — 18, where both their state by nature, and the 
manner in which they have come into it by the sin of 
the first man, the representative of all his posterity, 
is declared no fewer than five times. It is afterwards 
repeated in verse 19th, where the entrance and im- 
putation of sin, on the one hand, and of righteousness 
on the other, are formally declared in language, the 
meaning of which may be resisted, but cannot be mis- 
understood. " As by one man's disobedience many 
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall 
many be made righteous." 

Man having thus become a sinner, and subject to 
all the consequences of sin, God, in his infinite mercy, 
resolved that the whole of mankind should not perish, 
but that many amongst them should be renewed in 
knowledge after the image of him that created him. 
Mercy, however, could be exercised only in the way of 
justice, and grace must reign through righteousness. 
Righteousness, then, or exact conformity to the law, and 
complete fulfilment of it must be provided, in order to 
accomplish the salvation of a creature who was totally 
divested of it. But where was a righteousness avail- 
able to such an important purpose to be found ? It 



89 



could not proceed from him who had sinned,, and 
through sin fallen under the curse of the law. No 
created being could supply it for another. Every 
intelligent creature,, of whatever order,, is bound to 
perform for himself all that the law of God requires. 
He must love God and obey him with all his heart 
and strength. The just and holy law never could 
command less, and it is impossible that a creature can 
do more. All his righteousness is consequently re- 
quired for himself, nor has he the smallest portion be- 
yond this to spare for another. The righteousness, 
then, in which man is to be clothed anew could only 
be provided by God. It has accordingly been per- 
formed by him as well as accepted by him ; and He 
who actually wrought it is " Jehovah our righteous- 
ness/' Jer. xxiii. 6. In the Old Testament God 
frequently denominates this righteousness, ec My 
righteousness/' — connects it with his salvation, and ex- 
pressly shows, that it is provided for sinners. Isa. 
xlvi. 12, IS; li. 5, 8; liv. 16. Compare Isa. Ivi. 1, 
Psalm xcviii. 2, and Rom. i. 17- Thus the prophets 
were commissioned to declare that God's righteous- 
ness was near to be revealed, and the apostles testify 
its actual revelation. 

To accomplish this righteousness by fulfilling and 
honouring the broken law, and to render its imputation 
to the sinner consistent with justice, God was pleased 
to assume the human nature into personal union with 
the divine. ee He who was in the beginning with God, 
(marking a distinction in personality,) and who was 
God, became flesh/' John i. 1, 14. " In his incarna- 
tion he was made of a woman, made under the law> 



/ 



90 

to redeem them that were under its curse. Gal. iv. 
4, 5. cc Being in the form of God,, he took upon him 
the form of a servant/' Phil. ii. 6, 7- His original 
form was as really that of God,, as his assumed form 
was that of a servant. His taking upon him the form 
of a servant incontestibly proves, that originally he 
was not a servant, for how could a servant take on 
himself the form of a servant ? Can a man take on him- 
self the form of a man ? But had he been the highest 
super-angelic creature, he must have been both ori- 
ginally and for ever a servant, infinitely beneath the 
Creator. 

Invested with the human nature, the Son of God 
placed himself under the law, and not only obeyed its 
precepts, but suffered its penalty, both being necessary 
for the redemption of men, by whom the law had been 
broken. The guilt of their sins being imputed to him, 
he suffered the punishment due to them, and his obe- 
dience being imputed to them, they receive the bless- 
ing of righteousness, (that blessing of Abraham which 
was to come on all nations,) and with it a title to its 
reward. Upon the ground of this transference of sin 
and righteousness, the apostle employs these affecting 
words. " As though God did beseech you by us ; we 
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, 
for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no 
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God 
in Him." Thus, the Redeemer " magnified the law 
and made it honourable/' He honoured its precepts 
by his complete obedience, and magnified its penalties 
by his all-perfect sacrifice. " He finished transgres- 
sion, made an end of sins, made reconciliation for ini- 



91 



quity, and brought in everlasting righteousness." He 
is become the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth, the end or finishing — the 
same expression used by him on the cross,, when he 
said, u It is finished ;" and, again, " I have finished 
the work which thou gavest me to do." 

In this wonderful transaction, Jehovah hath mani- 
fested himself the just God and the Saviour. Isaiah 
xlv. 21. He could not have been just, if, in redeeming 
a sinner, he had accepted an apparent, and not a real 
satisfaction to his justice. But now every transgres- 
sion receives its merited punishment, and while God 
remains just he exercises mercy to sinners. " Mercy 
and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace 
have kissed each other." Psalm lxxxv. 10. " Jus- 
tice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne : 
mercy and truth shall go before thy face." Psalm 
lxxxix. 14. 

Such are the original circumstances of man, and 
such the remedy which God has provided for him, 
But how shall man be prevailed on to receive this re- 
medy, so contrary to his natural pride, and to his 
rooted enmity against his Creator ? Piom. viii. 7* He 
is wholly alienated from God, through the ignorance 
that is in him, because of the hardness of his heart, 
Eph. iv. 18. His cc heart is deceitful above all things 
and desperately wicked." Jerem. xvii. 9- . " He lov- 
eth darkness rather than light, because his deeds are 
evil." John iii. 19. " Can the Ethiopian change his 
skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do 
good, that are accustomed to do evil/' Jerem. xiii. 23. 
" No man can come to me, said the Lord Jesus, except 



92 

the Father which hath sent me draw him" John vi. 44, 
65. The whole human race would, after all, perish, 
Rom. ix. 29, if God himself did not interpose and 
apply the salvation which he has provided ; sanctify- 
ing as well as justifying the subjects of his grace, and 
thus making them proper objects of salvation, and ca- 
pable of enjoying it. 

Accordingly God has interposed. He had gracious- 
ly determined that, by the knowledge of his righteous 
servant, many should be justified. Isa. liii. 11. In 
them the Redeemer was to see of the travail of his 
soul, and to be satisfied. He was to become the Fa- 
ther's servant, to accomplish the work of redemption, 
and according as it was written of him, he was to 
come to do the Father's will. On the other hand, the 
Father declared that, " If his soul shall make a 
propitiatory sacrifice, he shall see a seed which shall 
prolong their days ; and the gracious purpose of Je- 
hovah shall prosper in his hands." It is added, " I 
will distribute to him the many for his portion ; 
and the mighty people shall he share for his spoil ; 
because he poured out his soul unto death, and was 
numbered with the transgressors ; and he bare the 
sin of many ; and made intercession for the trans- 
gressors/' Isa. liii. 10, 12. Such is the tenor of 
the everlasting covenant entered into between the 
Father and the Son, by which a numerous seed was 
given to the Saviour, to whom he was to give eternal 
life. Of these he frequently made mention during 
his ministry on earth. He declares that all that the 
Father hath given him shall come to him, John vi. 37 » 
and that he gives unto them eternal life, and that 



93 



none shall pluck them out of his hand. John x. 
28, 29, and xvii. 2. All these are chosen in Christ. 
Eph. i. 4. And of them it is said,, " Whom he 
did foreknow,, them he did predestinate, to be con- 
formed to the image of his Son, that he might be the 
first-born among many brethren : moreover, whom he 
did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he 
called, them he 2X^0 justified ; and whom he justified, 
them he also glorified' 3 Rom. viii. 29. 

The election of those who are predestinated to this 
conformity to the image of the Son of God is wholly 
an election of grace, having no respect whatever to 
the works of those elected, for to these they are pre- 
destinated. This is formally declared respecting the 
election of the remnant of Israel. " Even so at this 
present time there is a remnant according to the elec- 
tion of grace, and, if by grace, then it is no more of 
works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But, if it 
be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work 
is no more work." Rom. xi. 5. The Christians at 
Ephesus are addressed in the most decisive language 
respecting their original ruined and lost condition, 
and are reminded that it was solely by the gracious 
interposition of God that they were brought out of it, 
and that to this cause all that was good in them was to 
be attributed. ce And you hath he quickened who 
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein, in time 
past, ye walked according to the course of this world, 
according to the prince of the power of the air, the 
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience ; among whom also we all had our conversation 
in times past, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of 



94 



the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, 
even as others. But God who is rich in mercy for his 
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we 
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with 
Christ, (by grace ye are saved, f) and hath raised us 
up together, and made us sit together in heavenly 
places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 1 — 6. 

All the spiritual blessings bestowed on those who had 
thus been dead in trespasses and sins, flow fr om the elec- 
tion and predestination of God. The saints are repre- 
sented in the following passage as coming forth from the 
source of their eternal election. " Blessed be the God 
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed 
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in 
Christ ; according as he hath chosen us in him, before 
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, 
and without blame before him in love ; having pre- 
destinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus 
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure 
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, 
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved ; in 
whom we have redemption through his blood, the for- 
giveness of sins according to the riches of his grace ; 
wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom 
and prudence ; having made known unto us the mys- 
tery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which 
he hath purposed in himself ; that in the dispensation 
of the fulness of time, he might gather together in 

* In the eighth verse, it is said, " by grace are ye saved 
through faith." Grace is the cause, and faith is the effect pro- 
duced by that cause. 



95 



one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, 
and which are on earth, even in him ; in whom also 
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated 
according to the purpose of him who worketh all 
things after the counsel of his own will/' Eph. i. 
3—11. 

Those blessings which God has thus bestowed com- 
prehend every part of salvation ; and they are all, as 
we are again assured in the following declaration, ap- 
plied as well as provided by himself. Addressing the 
saints at Corinth, Paul says — " Of him (God) are ye 
in Christ Jesus, who, of God, is made unto us Wis- 
dom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Re- 
demption." 1 Cor. i. 30. Here the completeness of 
the salvation of believers — its source in the sovereign 
election of God — the special designation of the Re- 
deemer, and all the blessings flowing from union with 
him are pointed out. In their natural state, those 
who are saved, as one with the first man who sinned, 
had no hope, and were without God in the world ; 
but he who works all things according to the good 
pleasure of his will, brings them into union with 
Christ. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus. It was by 
him also that this glorious Redeemer was appointed 
and invested with the plenitude of all spiritual bless- 
ings for their behoof. For, it is said of him, that of 
God, he is made the author of these blessings to his 
people. They are fools, and blind by nature, incap- 
able of discerning the things of the Spirit of God. 
But the moment this blessed union is formed, by 
faith, the gift of God, and which he communicates 
by his Spirit in regeneration, they are made wise 

1 



96 



unto salvation, deriving all their Wisdom from their 
glorious head and representative, the Prophet of his 
church, who is " the wisdom of God." Guilty and 
condemned in themselves, the Righteousness which 
Christ, as the High Priest of their profession hath 
wrought, is imputed to them. And thus they are 
justified, accounted perfectly righteous, as if they had 
personally fulfilled the law. Being by nature enemies 
to God by wicked works, he is also made to them 
Sanctification — a new heart is given them, their dis- 
positions are changed through his power, who, as 
their King, has rescued them from the captivity of 
Satan, cast down their reasonings, and every high 
thing in them that exalteth itself against the know- 
ledge of God, and brought every thought into capti- 
vity to himself. Lastly, Their Redemption, both in 
soul and in body, from every remainder of sin, and 
from all its consequences, will be completely effected 
at the resurrection of their bodies from the grave in 
the last day ; and this also will take place through their 
union with the Son of God, who, in the exercise of 
his several offices assigned to him, will perfect and 
complete this redemption, as the sum of his gracious 
purposes of love and mercy to all whom the Father 
hath given him. Such is the manner in which all 
these blessings shall be conveyed by God to his people, 
and they are so conveyed, expressly with the de- 
sign, that " No flesh should glory in his presence ; 
but that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, 
let him glory in the Lord." 1 Cor. i. 2& 31. 

It follows then, that not only is righteousness imputed 
to the believer, by which he is justified, and his state 



97 



changed; but there is also a righteousness derived 
from the same source implanted in him. The com- 
munication of this righteousness is the great end 
of redemption,, as it respects man, and it is what 
makes him meet for the inheritance of the saints in 
light. Along with justification,, it is amply provided 
for in the new covenant, as well as the perseverance 
of the saints to the end' of their course. " Then will 
I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean 
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I 
cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and 
a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will take 
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will 
give you an heart of flesh." Ezek. xxxvi. 25. " This 
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house 
of Israel ; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put 
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their 
hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my 
people/' Jer. xxxi. 33. " And I will give them one 
heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, 
for the good of them and of their children after them. 
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, 
that I will not turn away from them to do them good ; 
but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall 
not depart from me." Jer. xxxii. 39. 

Such are the invaluable blessings which flow to 
men from the " everlasting love" of the Father, and 
from " the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," 
which are conveyed through the sanctifying operation 
of the blessed Spirit. He opens their hearts to re- 
ceive him, Acts xvi. 14 ; enters into them, unites them 

F 



98 



by faith to the Saviour, and communicates to them 
from his fulness all spiritual blessings. Thus they 
receive the promise of the Spirit. He dwelleth in 
them. They become habitations of God through the 
Spirit, Eph. ii. 22. They are the temples of the 
Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19. They receive the spi- 
rit of adoption, Rom. viii. 15, and the earnest of the 
Spirit, 2 Cor. v. 5. They are sealed by the Spirit 
unto the day of redemption, Eph. iv. SO. The Spi- 
rit himself maketh intercession for them, Rom. viii. 
26 ; and thus is fulfilled the great blessing of the new- 
covenant, cc I will put my Spirit within you, and 
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep 
my judgments and do them." Ezek. xxxvi. 27- 

" The Holy Spirit is Jehovah, a person in the self- 
existent Godhead, equal with the Father in every at- 
tribute. His office name is Spirit. The idea is taken 
from air such as we breathe, to denote his being the 
breather or inspirer of spiritual life. Every thing 
done by him in this character tends to holiness ; and 
therefore he is called the Holy Spirit. His office in 
the covenant, as well as his co-equality with the Fa- 
ther and the Son, entitle him to equal love and equal 
worship. For he undertakes to carry into execution 
the purposes of the Father's love in Christ Jesus. 
The fulfilment of these purposes depends entirely up- 
on his grace. The Son has been incarnate, he has 
made atonement for sin, and brought in everlasting 
righteousness. The Father is satisfied with his finish- 
ed work, and has demonstrated his acceptance of it. 
The Son is now upon the throne of glorv, with all 

2 



99 



power in heaven and earth. To this the Holy Spirit 
bears witness. 

« It is his divine office to apply the salvation of 
Jesus, and to make it effectual. He does all in the 
heirs of promise. The Father gave them to the Son, 
the Son redeemed them ; but they are in the common 
mass of corruption, dead in trespasses and sins, till 
the Spirit of life enter into them. They feel not their 
guilt nor their danger, till he convince them. They 
are quite ignorant of God, and of the things of God, 
till he make them wise unto salvation. They cannot 
believe in Jesus, till the Spirit of faith enable them. 
They cannot rejoice in the Father's love, till the Com- 
forter makes them sensible of it. They are without 
strength, till they be strengthened with strength in the 
inner man. They cannot go on in their Christian course, 
but by a constant supply of the Spirit. They cannot 
hold out to the end, but from his abiding with them 
for ever. So that he is the Lord and giver of life. 
He begins the good work, and he performs it until 
the day of Jesus Christ. 

tc Every motion of spiritual life is from the Holy 
Spirit, and all those whom he makes alive, he makes 
sensible of the debt which they owe him. He mani- 
fests his love to them, and thereby he engages their 
love to him. They experience how great the love of 
the Spirit is. They are sensible of their obligations 
to him, and desire to be thankful for them. Thus 
their affections return to the proper object of love and 
worship. They receive daily the blessings of the Fa- 
ther's love, through faith in the Son's salvation, by the 



100 



applying power of the Holy Spirit ; and hereby they 
are reconciled to the first and great commandment ; 
it is become the delight of their souls to love the Lord 
God." 

The promise of the Holy Ghost was declared by an 
apostle, to be " for the people of Israel and their child- 
ren, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
Lord our God shall call" Acts ii. 39- And God 
hath from the beginning chosen his people to salva- 
tion through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of 
the truth. 2 Thess. ii. 13. " They are elect, according to 
the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sancti- 
fication of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling 
of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. i. 1. 

As then man, in his natural state, antecedent to 
regeneration and to the communication of grace, re- 
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they 
are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. ii. 14, 
as no man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by 
the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii. 3, God, therefore, gives 
the Holy Spirit to those on whom he will have mercy, * 

* " God may be considered under two different aspects, either 
as judging with equity, or as disposing arbitrarily of his benefits ; 
or in other words, as a Judge or as a Sovereign. Under one or 
other aspect, he is the Supreme God, in whatever manner he 
acts, having nothing higher than himself. Sovereignty, when 
this word is applied to the Supreme Being, signifies the exer- 
cise of the arbitrary will of a Benefactor, because, that under the 
other aspect, there is no place for the exercise of this arbitrary 
will. In the exercise of his justice, he is sovereign in his judg- 



101 



that they may know the things that are freely given to 
them of God. 1 Cor. ii. 12. The salvation of sinners, 
their election before the foundation of the world, and 
their predestination to the participation of all the bless- 
ings of the covenant of grace, are entirely according to 
the good pleasure of the will of God, flowing from his 
everlasting love, and to the praise of the glory of his 
grace. And all the grace which is dispensed to " the 
vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto 
glory," Rom. ix. 23, is treasured up for them in the 
person of the Mediator of the new covenant. " The 

ments and his punishments, but not arbitrary ; because he does 
not judge without demerit in the object of his judgment. When 
he acts as Judge and Supreme Ruler, his acts are founded up- 
on equity ; but when he acts as Sovereign, his acts are found- 
ed upon his free favour, and dispensed with wisdom. 

" It is certain, that however great may be the goodness and 
the mercy of God, those of his creatures who are miserable, 
do not participate equally of them. This is evident by the 
distinction established between fallen angels and men. The 
first are entirely given up to punishment, and none are saved ; 
and this is surely without derogating from the mercy of 
God. Yet there would be as much reason for accusing God 
of failing in goodness, because he leaves all these angels to 
perish, as because he gives up to punishment a part of men. 
The power of God is determined in its exercise by sovereign 
will and divine wisdom : and why should not his goodness 
and his mercy be so also ? Mercy, which is a particular kind 
of divine goodness, is sovereign ; and to confer favours freely, 
but under the direction of the divine wisdom, does injury cer- 
tainly to no one. If God was only just, there would be no 
place for mercy. If he had not a right to act as a Sovereign 
Benefactor, there could have been no place for the plan of re- 
demption." 



102 



Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we 
beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth ; and of his fulness we 
have all received, and grace for grace." John i. 14, 16. 
The Holy Spirit is " the Spirit of truth," John xvi. 
13; u the Spirit of grace," Heb. x. 29, who glo- 
rifies the Saviour ; for " he shall take of mine," said 
Jesus, ci and show it unto you." John xvi. 14. The 
love of God for his people (a sense of that everlasting 
love wherewith he hath loved them, and therefore with 
loving-kindness hath drawn them to himself, Jer. xxxi. 
3, that love which he has commended to them, in that 
he gave his Son to die for them,) is shed abroad in 
their hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto them. 
Hence as the sum of all benedictions, the apostle's 
prayer for the Corinthians is, that the grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the com- 
munion of the Holy Ghost (the communication of 
those blessings of grace and love, by means of his 
presence and sacred influences in their souls) might 
be with them all. 

Redemption, then, the chief of the works of God, 
is begun, carried on, and completed, by grace. Every 
part of it, from its commencement, in the counsels 
of eternity, to its ultimate consummation in the 
everlasting blessedness and glory of the redeemed., 
when the top stone shall be brought forth with 
shoutings, crying, " Grace, grace unto it," origi- 
nates in grace, and is applied by grace, — the free un- 
merited favour of God. The believer is elected by 
grace, Rom. xi. 5. He is predestinated to his adop- 
tion, to the praise of grace, Eph. i. 5, 6. He is call- 



103 



cd by grace, Gal. i. 15. He believes by grace, Acts 
xviii. 27. He has redemption and forgiveness by 
grace, Eph. i. 7. He is justified by grace, Rom. iii. 
24; Titus iii. 7. He is, in all respects, under 
grace, Rom. vi. 14. He is what he is by grace, 

1 Cor. xv. 10. He serves God by grace, Heb. xii. 
28. He labours in the service of God by grace, Heb. 
xiii. 9. He has his conversation in the world by grace, 

2 Cor. i. 12. His heart is established by grace, Heb. 
xiii. 19. He is upheld by grace, 2 Cor. xii. 9- He 
is an heir of grace, 1 Pet. iii. 7- He has good hope 
through grace, 2 Thess. ii. 16. His reward is by 
grace, Rom. iv. 4. Grace shall be brought to him at 
the revelation of Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. i, 13. The 
grace of God bringeth salvation to him, Tit. ii. 11. 
In one word, he is saved by grace, Eph. ii. 5, 8. Such 
is the operation of grace, in respect to those who are 
the subjects of it, for whom it was from eternity de- 
posited in their glorious Head. He " hath saved us 
and called us with an holy calling, not according to 
our works, but according to his own purpose and 
grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the 
world began," 2 Tim. i. 9- 

Thus, viewing the plan of redemption in its differ- 
ent parts, we see what judgment we ought to form of 
the regulation enacted by the pastors of Geneva, re- 
specting the doctrines which are to be preached in 
their pulpits. By that antichristian enactment, the 
discussion of every fundamental principle of the 
Christian religion is proscribed and shut out from their 
pulpits. By the first article, the doctrine of the di- 
vinity of the Son of God, on which depends the whole 



104 



of the execution of the plan of mercy which the 
Gospel reveals, is excluded, and along with it, the 
Scripture character of God, the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost. The second article prohibits the 
declaration of the natural state of man as a fallen and 
depraved creature, and so precludes the imputation 
of sin to him, as the former article does the imputa- 
tion of righteousness. The third article excludes the 
annunciation of the application of redemption in all 
its parts, and of the work of the Holy Spirit, the 
Sanctifier, as well as the exhibition of that grace 
which is the first moving cause in " effectual calling/' 
and the constant operating principle in the progress 
of salvation. The last article forbids the proclama- 
tion of the sovereignty of God, in which originates 
the whole plan of grace and redemption. In short, 
the discussion of every thing essential to salvation is 
thus shut out, both in respect to God as a sovereign, 
and to man as a guilty rebel. We have seen what 
the Gospel of the grace of God, as it is emphatically 
designated, Acts xx. 24, ascribes to the operation of 
grace, and shall they be accounted ministers of that 
Gospel, " ministers of Christ, and stewards of the 
mysteries of God" 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; " good stewards of 
the manifold grace of God" 1 Pet. iv. 10, who have 
entered into a deliberate compact, which they intend 
to force upon all who shall succeed them, to abstain 
from discussing, either in whole discourses or in parts 
of them, the subject of the great « mystery of godliness, 
God manifest in the flesh/' 1 Tim. iii. 16, and " the 
operation of grace ?" 



105 



If the regulation, established by the pastors of 
Geneva, needed any explanation from its authors to 
make their intention by it more clear, you have fur- 
nished us with one, the meaning of which cannot be 
mistaken. On the important subject of the operation 
of grace in the influences of the Holy Spirit, the 
whole consistory of Geneva has come forward and 
proclaimed their judgment. In the case of M. Malan 
you inform us, < The venerable consistory having again 
' deliberated, decreed that the Moderator should ask 
( admittance to the Council of State, to make known 
* its determination, and its motives in the following 
< terms. 29th April, 1823/ — After other things, the 
Address proceeds, c Most Honourable Lords ! Al- 
6 though several doctrinal points taught by M. Malan 
c are not contained in the Sacred Writings ; although 
6 the doctrine, in particular, of the influences of the 
c Spirit on the minds of individuals, on which he has 
c been so fond of expatiating, is attended with ineal- 
c culable danger, in the first instance exciting pride, 
( and afterwards urging on to the excesses of fanati- 
i cism, yet it is not of this we complain ; in fact, he 
e has taught it publicly during four years, in the 
c midst of us, and we have not made the slightest re- 
' monstrance. 

Here we have the deliberate judgment, not of an 
individual, but of the whole ec venerable consistory" of 
Geneva, making ec known its determination." A more 
impious document it will be difficult to produce. The 
influences of the Holy Spirit, on which the whole of 
the application of redemption from first to last depends, 
without which the proclamation of the Gospel would 



106 



prove to every son of Adam, whose ears it reached, 
ce the savour of death to death/' 2 Cor. ii. 16, are here 
not merely denied, but stigmatized as fraught with 
the most baleful consequences. It is superfluous to 
make any further remark on this point — it is not neces- 
sary for the conviction of Christians ; and with respect 
to Infidels, it would be of no avail. There is not an 
Atheist or a Deist in the world, who will not cordially 
unite with the " venerable consistory" of pastors at 
Geneva in decrying the doctrine of the influences of the 
Holy Spirit on the minds of individuals, as exciting 
pride, and urging on to the excesses of fanaticism. Is 
there one left among you who knows the truth as it is 
in Jesus ? Will he not, like Elijah, lift up his voice ? 

The following extract from the letter of M. Rieu, 
above referred to, dated July 7, 1819j> will show in what 
a different light he viewed the subject of the work of 
the Spirit ; and also what was his opinion concerning 
the doctrines taught in the church of Geneva, and of 
the adversaries of the Gospel of the present day, and 
above all those of his own country. 

« It would, I believe, be of much importance to 
have a work at this time which would very clearly 
establish against the adversaries of our day, and, above 
all, against those of my country, the rights and the ope- 
rations of the Holy Spirit, with respect to the truths 
of the faith ; for they seem really to have forgotten that 
there is a Holy Spirit. Some would make us believe 
that there is uncertainty in the foundation of the 
faith, and that it is dependent on the intelligence 
of men. Others, that it is capable of being brought 



107 



to perfection by reason, and the progress of light in the 
sciences. So many monstrous errors prove the abso- 
lute ignorance in which they are of the clear and po- 
sitive promises of Jesus Christ to send to all the faith- 
ful, to as many as the Lord shall call to himself, 
the Spirit of truth, which should be in all ages and 
in all countries absolutely the same, and conduct 
into the same truths. I would wish, above all, to 
have it shown, that this Spirit, which is promis- 
ed to enlighten, is the same Spirit which regenerates; 
so that, where we do not see regeneration, it need not 
surprise us that we do not there see the light. It has, 
no doubt, more than once been treated by the able, 
or rather by the pious disciples of Jesus; but I would 
like to see it at this time particularly directed against 
our infidels of the present day/' 

In the concluding part of your publication, you 
profess to give some account of Methodism, without 
entering " into discussions of too deep a nature/' 
Your account presents such a mixture of ignorance, 
evasion, and perverse sentiment, that, after what I 
have already stated, there is no necessity for advert- 
ing to it, further than by making a few remarks. 

In the first place, 1 would observe, that I am not a 
Methodist, and that neither M. Malan, nor any of 
my friends at Geneva, belong to that denomination ; 
but, on the contrary, hold sentiments that are in 
many respects widely different from those of the Me- 
thodists. But any farther than to prevent the con- 
founding of things that differ, it is comparatively of 



108 



small moment^ whether you designate those whom yon 
oppose Calvinists, or Methodists, or Momiers. With 
you these terms are, I believe, quite synonymous. 

Some of your statements respecting the doctrine of 
those whom you are so anxious to hold up to repro- 
bation are correct. But in bringing these forward as 
you do, you display your opposition to those Scrip- 
tures in which they are explicitly taught. In other 
places you entirely misstate their sentiments, as I 
have shown that you have misrepresented mine. 

Were it necessary to notice what you advance on 
the subject of doctrine, it would be easy to expose 
the inaccuracy of your statements, your general op- 
position to Scripture, and your ignorance of the sen- 
timents of those whom you oppose. 

e What is the final object of Christianity ?' It is 
' to give us strength, to furnish us with means for 
e accomplishing the great end for which the Creator has 
' placed us in this world ; to lead us by the hand till 
' we obtain eternal salvation, after a life of watchful- 
c ness/ (Observe how this is explained in the conclud- 
ing part of the sentence.) ' For this purpose all the 
£ truths of Christianity, beautifully connected together, 
c are as brilliant lights to illuminate our path ; as 
i land-marks to direct, and, if need be, to support us/ 
Here lights and land-marks are represented as com- 
municating to us strength, and, if need be, support ! 
This position, so absurd in itself, is perfectly con- 
sistent with your system, which discards the inter- 
nal operation of the Holy Spirit, and stigmatizes 
with the harshest epithets every pretension of men to 
be actuated by the influences of grace. 



109 



c The man who believes is washed and justified; 
( he is passed from death unto life. His faith is a 
' gratuitous gift/ Afterwards, ' Good works are al- 
f together unavailable to conversion/ The above you 
give as specimens of the doctrine of your opponents, 
which you characterize as ' widely different from the 
< religion of Christ. 3 Here, how easy would it be to 
prove the direct opposition of your statement to the 
Scriptures ! Where, for example, do you find good 
works spoken of in the word of God, as existing be- 
fore conversion ? All works, before the conscience is 
purged by the application of the blood of Christ, are 
" dead works/' On this subject I would recommend 
to your further attention, a passage which you your- 
self have quoted. (( Every good tree bringeth forth 
good fruit'' On the other hand, a corrupt tree 
bringeth forth evil fruit. A corrupt tree cannot 
bring forth good fruit.* The tree must be made good 
before the fruit produced by it can be good, Matth. 
vii. 12, 17> 18, 33. To the same purpose it is said, 
that " the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is 
not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can be." 
Such being naturally the condition of man, how is it 
possible that good works can precede conversion ? 

< The followers of Whitefield/ you say, ' believe in 
' absolute predestination to life or to death, independ- 
' ently of the conduct of the individual/ Here the 

* " Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather 
grapes of thorns, or figs of, thistles ?" " A good man, out of 
the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is 
good ; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, 
bringeth forth that which is evil. " " Wickedness proceedeth 



no 



designation of Methodists is exchanged for " the fol- 
lowers of Whitefield but still the same persons are 
intended. Again, ' The Methodists, whose salvation 
6 is wrought out and perfected, have only to labour 
c for the salvation of others. Methodism teaches 
c that good works and sanctification are produced ne- 
c cessarily by faith in Jesus Christ ; and as the Me- 
c thodist possesses that faith, he is no longer required 
c to work out his own salvation, and to tremble for his 
' own sake ; he has to work and to tremble only for 
€ the sake of others/ 

Of these charges, as far as they are unfounded, you 
will find a complete refutation in the following ex- 
tract from my Commentary, vol. ii. 105, to which you 
have appealed in proof of the instructions which you 
say I gave the students. 

u There is nothing in election to salvation which does 
not require the use of means to arrive at it. The end 

from the wicked." " Who can bring a clean thing out of an 
unclean ? Not one." Before a man can do good works he 
must be good himself. He must be born again, "for that which 
is born of the flesh is flesh" that is to say, is corrupt and bad; 
w They that are in the flesh cannot please God" Rom. viii. 8. 
It is necessary, then, that a man be created anew in Christ 
Jesus ; that his heart be washed and purified ; that the law 
of God be written in it before he can render obedience to the 
law ; for that is not obedience which does not proceed from 
love to God. All works really good are the fruits of the Spi- 
rit of God. These are the only ones which are called good in 
Scripture, and all others which do not proceed u out of a pure 
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned," as the 
root of the whole, are dead works. 



Ill 



and the means are included in the same decree, and 
it is in the use of means that the decree itself re- 
ceives its accomplishment. When the apostle Paul 
found himself in imminent danger of being shipwreck- 
ed, he announced to those who sailed with him, that 
not a man should lose his life ; that the ship only 
should be lost. " For/' said he, " there stood by me 
this night, the angel of God, whose I am, and whom 
I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought 
before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them 
that sail with thee. Wherefore, Sirs, be of good 
cheer ; for I believe God, that it shall be even as it 
was told me." When, however, the mariners were 
about to flee out of the ship, Paul said to the centu- 
rion and to the soldiers, " Except these abide in the 
ship, ye cannot be saved." This did not at all weak- 
en the confidence he had that they would be all sav- 
ed, as it had been announced to him. For God who 
had ordained that they should be saved, had also de- 
termined the means, and that it should be by the 
help of the mariners. Thus, although God has or- 
dained the salvation of all those who are to be saved, 
he has not done it without at the same time deter- 
mining that it shall be in the way of faith and of ho- 
liness, and that they shall work out their own salvation 
with fear and trembling. Besides, to pretend that it is 
useless to pray, to make any exertion, and to make use 
of the means of salvation, because that all is determin- 
ed in an absolute manner, is openly to contradict the 
Scriptures, and to introduce ideas which have not 
any foundation with respect to God. Prayers, and 



112 



the use of means, were equally present to God from 
eternity, as in the present moment they are present 
to men. They were present to God as a part of his 
decree, and had in eternity an existence as real, with 
respect to God, as they have in time relatively to us. 
So that it can no more be said that these things are 
useless, because God has predetermined all things, 
than that they would have been useless if they had 
existed at the moment even of the decree of election, 
since they are really a part of it. 

ce There is no decree then which fixes that the elect 
shall be saved, w r hether or not they work out their 
salvation, or that they may continue to live with- 
out being converted, and without desiring to have 
any part in the blessings of eternity, and, notwith- 
standing, enter at last into heaven. If a man is ap- 
pointed to eternal life, he is at the same time ap- 
pointed to be awakened to the sense of his misery 
and the guilt of his sin ; to be ardent in prayer and 
diligent in walking in the path that God has com- 
manded. If some men make the decrees of God a 
pretext for not occupying themselves with their sal- 
vation, it is only an excuse for their indolence, and 
for not believing themselves obliged to do what they 
have no inclination to do. For these same persons do 
not draw the same conclusion from the decrees of God 
in matters of a different nature, and less important 
than salvation/' 

You speak of your opponents as ' zealous mission- 
c aries, who appear consumed with the desire of con- 
6 verting the world/ It is much to be regretted that 



113 



so small a portion of zeal is manifested by them, and 
that, in this, as in every other respect, they are all of 
them so far behind in their imitation of Him who 
hath left us an example that we should follow his 
steps, — of Him concerning whom it is written, that 
he was clad with zeal as a cloak, Isa. lix. 17 ; and 
" the zeal of thine house hath consumed me," John 
ii. 17. But when did you ever hear of any being " con- 
verted'* by your preaching and zeal ? I believe that 
the idea is as far from your thoughts as the thing itself 
is from being realized. 

c The Methodist/ you say, c is never without the 
( Bible in his pocket ; he watches for the moment 
e when he can pull it out, and publicly display it ; 
' every where, in his own house, in the street, in stage 
e coaches, in all his conversation, he is every minute 
e pronouncing the name of the Lord, and the words of 
6 piety and faith are ever on his lips/ I hope you have 
here drawn a true picture of those whom you describe. 
But does it offend you ? Are we not here again re- 
minded of Him cc who went about doing good/' Acts 
x. 38 ; of him whose meat it was to do the will of 
his Father who sent him ; and who, on every occasion, 
introduced that great subject in which man is mainly 
concerned ? Happy, indeed, would it be for the ser- 
vants of Christ, if they were found with the words of 
piety and faith ever on their lips, constantly endea- 
vouring, as they have opportunity to turn the atten- 
tion of men around them to the things that belong to 
their peace, before they be hid from their eyes. They 
see men every where intoxicated with the vanities of 
this world, and pursuing them as if they were to con- 



114 



stitute their supreme happiness— ignorant and thought- 
less, and even indifferent respecting the interests of 
their immortal souls. In these circumstances, is it 
not their duty to endeavour to save them " with fear, 
pulling them out of the fire ? " 

While you attest the fact of the zeal of " the Metho- 
dists/' you attribute to them the unworthy motives of 
pride and ostentation. The harsh judgment which you 
thus pronounce, is the more inexcusable, as it stands in 
immediate connexion with your reminding your read- 
ers of the office of charity. < Charity is the basis of 
( the Christian life . . . Charity thinketh no evil ; faith, 
* without charity, is unavailing, these are the de- 
c clarations of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. xiii. Leaving 
it to your own ingenuity to reconcile your admo- 
nition with your practice, I would have you, as a 
matter of importance to yourself, to consider, whether 
you are actuated by a zeal at all commensurate to the 
exigency of the case of those multitudes around you, 
whom sin and death are urging on to their final doom : 
whether you are c< watching in all things, making 
full proof of your ministry." Do others make the 
same complaint of you which you bring against the 
Methodists, that you are " consumed with the desire 
of converting the world," — that you are u instant in 
season, out of season t" 

' The Methodist/ you say, * is every minute pro- 
< nouncing the name of the Lord/ I hope this is 
never done by him in the same light and profane man- 
ner in which the name of God is incessantly pro- 
nounced by the pastors of Geneva. In this respect 
they are worse than Jews or Mahommedans. " The 



115 

Jews would not pronounce the name of Jehovah, ex- 
cept in one peculiarly solemn act of worship. Such of 
the Mahommedans as cannot read, carefully lay aside 
any written or printed paper which they meet with, 
because they do not know whether it may not have 
the name of God upon it." 

< How ostentatious is this sect in their Jewish ob- 
1 servance of the Sabbath ; in their prohibition during 
e that day of the most innocent pleasures ! Religion 
c amongst them assumes not the appearance of a 
6 friend, a sister, a mother, anxious and zealous for our 
e happiness, but rather that of an austere officer for- 
e bidding the most blameless recreations to those un- 
c der his command. What ostentation in the multi- 
' plicity of religious services which occupies every 
' hour of the day and evening of the Sunday ; in those 
' readings of the Scripture which last for hours, not- 
c withstanding the enfeebled attention, the wandering 
e thoughts, and the weariness which are the necessary 
' result ; in those endless prayers, filled with the use- 
c less repetitions which Jesus Christ forbids ! The 
* Christian, obedient to the precept of his Master, 
' conceals himself while he is doing good ; he loves and 
' prays in the privacy of his heart/ 

Omitting the motive to which you ascribe all this, 
one would suppose you were writing a paneygric on 
the Methodists. Do they, indeed, employ the Sab- 
bath day in the manner you describe ? When they are 
merry, do they, according to the injunction of the 
apostle, sing psalms ? Do they turn away the foot 
from the Sabbath, from doing their pleasure on that 
holy day ; not doing their own ways, not finding their 



116 



own pleasures, not speaking their own words?" On that 
day, does their reading of the Scriptures last for hours? 
Are their prayers " endless/' although filled, (as you 
suppose, for most probably you never heard them,) 
with useless repetitions. Do the employments which 
occupy the hours of the evening correspond with the 
services of the day ? The employments of the evening, 
like the services of the day, may be defective ; and 
they whom you reproach with them feel and lament 
their defects. But still, how different this manner of 
spending the evening of " the Lord's day," from oc- 
cupying it in those " most innocent pleasures" and 
" most blameless recreations" evening parties, worldly 
conversation, card-playing, and dancing ! 

Does it excite your indignation that these Metho- 
dists reckon that the time past of their life should 
suffice to have wrought the will of the flesh? Do 
you think it strange that they do not continue to 
countenance you in your open profanation of that day 
which the Lord hath sanctified, on it " doing your own 
ways/' " finding your own pleasure," " speaking your 
own words ?" God hath commanded, and when the 
command was delivered, the earth trembled at his 
voice, that the Sabbath-day shall be kept holy. This 
solemn command is weekly read in your churches. 
And wherefore is this done, if the command is not to 
to be obeyed ? 

In opposition to the manner in which, you inform 
us, the Methodists publicly honour this day, you inti- 
mate something of the way in which you and your 
friends act on it. ( The Christian, obedient to the 



117 

' precept of his master, conceals himself whilst he is 
i doing good ; he loves and prays in the privacy of his 
' heart/ But how can we persuade ourselves, that you 
are, on the evening of the Lord's day, concealing your self 
and doing good, when you are making your appearance 
in worldly company, and joining in vain and idle con- 
versation ; or that you are loving and praying in the 
privacy of your heart, while you are playing at cards, or 
dancing at a ball ? 

According to you, M. Rieu was a Methodist. The 
manner in which he spent the Lord's day is detailed in 
the Memoir of his life, which you will observe afford- 
ed him no time for your " most innocent pleasures," 
and " most blameless recreations." " M. Rieu," it is 
there said, " always hailed their approach (the Sab- 
baths) with a joy of which the source was to be found 
in the manner in which he employed them. At nine 
o'clock in the morning he entered the pulpit, and 
preached in French. He afterwards visited three or 
four infirm persons of his flock, who, for many years, 
had not been able to quit their dwelling, and engaged 
with each of them in distinct services. At two o'clock 
he began his German service, after which he taught at 
his own house a very numerous Sabbath school. And 
at six o'clock this apostolic minister opened his doors, 
when those who were interested in the cause of God 
assembled with eagerness to hear the reading of the 
Holy Word, and the accounts of the progress of 
Christianity in the earth. The public services of the 
Lord's day being thus concluded, the faithful pastor 
still prayed for his flock, and found in his own soul a 
sweet and powerful recompence of his labours, — a ge- 



118 



nuine foretaste of those eternal recompences which 
awaited him, and which he was about so soon to re- 
ceive." 

c Methodism/ you say, c causes division ; Methodism 
6 separates even the members of the same family : 
' since the English have transplanted it into Geneva, 
c disunion has taken place amongst old friends, chil- 
c dren have been alienated from their fathers, and 
' women from their husbands.' These things in 
themselves, are no doubt, very bad, but the question 
remains, by what are, they occasioned ? Must they be 
laid to the charge of what is evil, or of what is good ? 
cc Sin, taking occasion by the commandment," says the 
Apostle, " wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, 
for without the law sin was dead/' But, he adds, 
cc the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, 
and good. Was then that which is good made death 
unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear 
sin, working death in me by that which is good." 
Rom. vii. 8. " All things that are reproved are 
made manifest by the light." And when light is let 
in on the works of darkness, it always occasions 
much perturbation. The effect, so contrary to its 
own native tendency, which the Christian doctrine inva- 
riably produces when it comes into contact with human 
depravity, was distinctly foretold by our Lord himself, 
and his prediction has been since literally verified in 
every age and country in which his doctrine has been 
taught. " I am come to send fire on the earth, and 
what will I, if it be already kindled ? Suppose ye 
that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you 



119 



nay ; but rather division. For,, from henceforth there 
shall be five in one house divided, three against two, 
and two against three. The father shall be divided 
against the son, and the son against the father ; the 
mother against the daughter, and the daughter against 
the mother ; the mother-in-law against her daughter- 
in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother- 
in-law." Luke xii. 4Q. "Think not that I am come to 
send peace on earth. I am not come to send peace, 
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance 
against his father, and the daughter against her mo- 
ther, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in- 
law ; and a man's foes shall be they of his own house- 
hold." Matth. x. 34. When you threw out this reproach 
against the Methodists, did you recollect on whom it 
must ultimately fall ? 

When entering the gates of Geneva with a person 
who now resides in your canton, I declared, in the 
most pointed manner, my full conviction, founded on 
the testimony of Scripture, that what you now relate 
as an historical fact, would certainly follow the intro- 
duction of the Gospel in that place. The fact, in this 
case, furnishes an additional instance to the innumer- 
able proofs that have already been afforded, of the 
fulfilment of his prediction who knew what is in 
man, and possessed, also, a perfect knowledge of the 
influence of the prince of this world. Your lamenta- 
tion concerning Geneva, in this and in other respects, 
has been repeated a thousand times by the opponents 
of Christianity. ce These men, being Jews, do ex- 
ceedingly trouble our city." Acts xvi. 20 ; 1 Kings 
xviii. 17. 

Indeed, there is a wonderful agreement between the 



120 



objections which are commonly made against real re- 
ligion in the present day, and those of the earlier in- 
fidels. An eminent church historian remarks this in 
the case of one of the most distinguished among them. 
" The peculiar doctrines of the Gospel/' he observes, 
" man's fallen state, justification by Jesus Christ alone, 
divine illumination and influence, these which excite 
the ill-will of man in his natural state now as much as 
they did then ; — These were plainly the doctrines 
which occasioned such misrepresentations and abuse 
as that, which we have seen. If the serious reader 
would take the trouble to examine a variety of contro- 
versial writings published against the revival of god- 
liness in our own times, he could not fail to be struck 
with a remarkable conformity of taste and sentiment 
between Celsus* and many who call themselves Chris- 
tian pastors." Milner, vol. i. 532. 

' To excite our vigilance/ you say, ' the Gospel re- 
' presents the seductions and perils of the world un- 
e der the image of an enemy roaming about and 
c ready to devour us if he find us sleeping, or heed- 
6 less, or given up to the influence of the passions/ 
Your denial of the existence of that apostate angel, 
whose being, and actions, and influence, are so much 
spoken of from the beginning to the end of the Bible, 
appears in the above paragraph. In your mind all 
that is said concerning him is merely figurative, de- 
noting the seductions and perils of the world. Ac- 
cording to this interpretation, how will the following 
passages read, besides many others which might be 

* Celsus was a virulent adversary of the Christians, and 
wrote against them in the second century. 



121 



adduced to show the absurdity of your opinion. Job, 
chap. i. verse 6 to 12; Job ii. from beginning to verse 
7, which would declare as follows: " The seductions 
and perils of the world smote Job with sore boils, 
from the sole of his foot unto his crown/' When the 
world and its works are burnt up, the wicked are to 
be sentenced to depart into everlasting fire, ce prepared 
for the seductions and perils of the world, and their 
angels/' " Michael the archangel, when contending 
with the seductions and perils of the world, (he dis- 
puted about the body of Moses) durst not bring against 
them a railing accusation/' Jude 9- 

c Methodism persuades its adherents, that this ene- 
c my respects and flees from them.' Yes, and so 
Scripture teaches them, " Resist the devil, and he 
will flee from you," James i. 7« The Apostle Paul 
was not ignorant of his devices,' though you are it 
seems ignorant of his existence. Whatever might 
be the case with respect to yourself, you would do 
less harm to others, were y ou to deny the truth of the 
Bible altogether, rather than that you should use it 
as you do, in a manner in which as a man of com- 
mon sense and candour you would not treat any other 
book. 

You continue to speak of the church of Geneva, 
as e one of the principal reformed churches of the 
c continent ;' and of the attack which has been made 
on you as c the opening of a vast plan which would en- 
c danger the Reformation.' What do you mean by the 
Reformation ? Was it merely a reform in respect to 
ceremonies and outward regulations, or was it not 
principally a reform of doctrine ? This was the light 
in which Luther viewed it. When Erasmus wrote 

G 



122 



against him on the freedom of the will, Luther in re- 
ply commended him as being the only one who had 
taken up the real matter of dispute. cc I most ex- 
ceedingly commend you/' he says to Erasmus, u for 
as much as that you are the only one, who among all 
my adversaries in this religious cause, has attempted 
to handle the real matter in dispute : nor have you 
fatigued me with extraneous matter about the pa- 
pacy,, purgatory, indulgences, and such like trifles, 
about which I have hitherto been hunted on all sides 
to no purpose. You, and only you, have seen the 
true hinge upon which all turned, and have aimed 
your blow at the throat. On this account I can sin- 
cerely thank you/' But on the point of dispute be- 
tween these writers, on which Luther observed the 
whole matter turned, you decidedly rank with Eras- 
mus. You reject, without exception, I believe, all 
the great doctrines maintained by the Reformers 
against their adversaries, as you also do others of the 
last importance, concerning which there was no dis- 
pute betwixt Roman Catholics and Protestants. How 
then would the Reformation be endangered by any 
thing that could happen to your church? You are 
much more nearly allied to the Roman Catholics (though 
they too would disclaim you) than to the Protestants. 

You tell us that your discontinuing the custom of 
signing a confession of faith, was kept secret by your 
pastors during twenty years. But it is not merely 
that you have ceased to affix your signatures to your 
confession, you have discarded the doctrines which it 
contains. For what other reason than the fear that 
these offensive doctrines would be again brought into 
notice, did you so warmly oppose the publication of 



123 



the Helvetic Confession of Faith by two of your own 
pastors ? Why did you and your colleagues so much 
dread the effect of that publication ? I was informed, 
when at Geneva, that one of your Professors having 
examined a student respecting the doctrines which he 
had embraced, and being highly offended with them, 
desired him to give him his sentiments in writing, on 
the points in question. The student copied the Con- 
fession of Faith of the French Protestant church on 
these doctrines, and gave him the extract as a faith- 
ful compend of what he believed to be truth. The 
Professor, not aware whence the extract was taken, 
but supposing it to be the original composition of the 
student, received it with indignation, and declared 
that such doctrines were calculated to make men 
" brigands J' 

On the other hand, is there a fundamental doctrine 
of Christianity held by those to whom you are so 
warmly opposed that is not contained in the confes- 
sions of the reformed churches ? If your church 
once maintained these doctrines, and was, in fact, 
founded on them, and if now you have not only dis- 
carded the confessions which contain these doctrines, 
but abandoned and denounced the doctrines them- 
selves, what right have you to persist in designing 
the church of Geneva one of the principal reformed 
churches of the continent ? You may perhaps sup- 
pose that the discoveries you have made, in following 
(according to the expression so much used at Ge- 
neva,) " the lights of the age," are great improve- 
ments. But if you do not intend to deceive, take 
some other name for the system which you have esta- 



124 



blislied than that of a Protestant Reformed church ; 
the appellation, in the general understanding of Christ- 
ians being appropriated to principles, and to a system 
essentially different from yours. 

It is not your continuing in a state of separation 
from the church of Rome that entitles you to a name 
which you unwarrantably assume. You find fault 
with M. Malan for acknowledging certain Roman 
Catholics as brethren, while the Methodists, as you 
call them, cannot acknowledge you, or any who hold 
your principles, as Christians. But you do this with- 
out reason. There are pious Catholics who adhere to the 
doctrine of the divinity of the Son of God, and who con- 
sequently (although the wood, and hay, and stubble, 
which they build on that foundation shall be destroy- 
ed,) will, we doubt not, be themselves saved ; while, 
on the other hand, multitudes calling themselves Pro- 
testants have destroyed the very foundation of a sin- 
ner's hope. When I was on the continent, I met with a 
young gentleman from Ireland, a Catholic, who ap- 
peared to be a pious man, with whom I had some very 
agreeable conversations. He had boarded himself in 
the same house with a number of Protestant students 
of theology. He regularly attended the prayers of his 
church morning and evening, and appeared so much 
in earnest about his religion, that he was ridiculed 
beyond measure by his ungodly companions, the Pro- 
testant students. At length, disgusted with their 
opposition to every thing like religion, and their vain 
worldly conversation, he left the house in which they 
resided, and boarded at the hotel, where he met with 
officers of the army and others, many of whom were 



125 



avowed infidels. But he declared that their conver- 
sation, bad and disagreeable as it was, was not so dis- 
gusting to him as that of the students of theology, 
whom he had left. 

Some time ago I received a letter from one of those 
who were students at Geneva when I was there. He 
expresses himself as follows : " O, my dear brother, how 
much harm did Geneva do to me ! The manner of life of 
the French students in theology, entirely worldly and 
dissipated; the absence of all good theological and 
religious instruction — the auditory where I studied 
the physical sciences, which dry up the mind, where 
the lectures are given only by Infidels — the reading 
of the works of philosopher^, Voltaire and Rousseau ; 
these were as so many rocks, against which, not being 
previously established, I was unhappily driven. En- 
tirely renouncing my religious sentiments, I entered, 
as it were, into a new world, giving up my mind, 
naturally ardent, to an excursive freedom, till then 
unknown, in a new sphere of ideas." These, Sir, are 
melancholy accounts of your Protestant seminaries ; 
and it is an unquestionable fact, that the greatest op- 
position to the spread of the Gospel in your country 
is experienced from Protestants. 

The question of chief interest to a serious mind is 
not, are you a Protestant or a Catholic, but are you a 
Christian ? What think you of Christ ? On this import- 
ant subject, all that you have written is evasive. You 
keep to general declarations and carefully avoid giv- 
ing any explicit statement. ' Without, then, profess- 
' ing to give a confession of faith, (why do you not 



126 



c give it?) or constituting myself the judge or histo- 
c rian of the doctrine of my colleagues,, I confess, alas ! 
' that there are amongst them some Methodists, Atha- 
c nasians, some of those who are commonly called the 
' orthodox, that is to say, those who believe entirely the 
c Creed of the First Council of Nice ; (so, notwith- 
standing what you have in the same sentence professed 
to the contrary, you feel no hesitation in giving a con- 
fession of the faith of your colleagues,) and I may 
' decidedly, without fear of departing from the truth, 
c make the following assertions with respect to them 
c all/ 

' There is not one of the pastors of the church of 
e Geneva who does not affectionately confess Jesus 
c Christ as his Saviour, his Mediator, his Intercessor. 
c There is not one who does not say with the apostle, 
c Neither is there salvation in any other ; for there is- 
c none other name under heaven given among men 
' whereby we must be saved ; who does not say, it 
' is by Jesus Christ that we are justified ; he has re- 
c deemed us from the curse of the law ; he has re- 
e vealed to us the economy of reconciliation and of 
e grace. There is not any Genevan pastor who does 
c not honour the Son as the raiser of the dead and 
c the judge of all the children of men ; there is not 
' one who does not know it to be his duty, and feel it 
e his happiness to study his laws, to obey his precepts, 
f and to make his name known and loved on earth ; 
' and to glorify by his words and actions the God of 
4 holiness and mercy. 

c What more can be required ? Is not Jesus Christ 
e the corner stone of the building ? Is not he a Christ- 



e ian who believes in Jesus Christ the promised Messiah, 
' in Jesus Christ, the prophet, priest, and king, in 
' Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour to the glory of God ? 
( Is it needful to exact on difficult questions, on deep 

< mysteries, an uniformity never to be met with, even 
6 on more simple and comprehensible subjects ? . . . . 

c The homage of the heart, charity, the love of 
e peace, these are the key-stone of the arch to the 
' Christian. " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
" the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
u God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" 
c said St. Paul to the faithful at Rome. When the 
f Ethiopian desired to be baptized, Philip replied, If 
' thou believest with all thine heart, thou may est. And 
e he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is 
c the Son of God. 

6 Do you profess to have more knowledge, and to 
' act better than our guides, who were assisted by the 

< Holy Spirit ?* 

In the above declarations, you evidently wish to be 
understood, that, as far as they go, they comprehend 
both your own creed, and that of the Methodists whom 
you oppose. But is it then possible that such decla- 
rations can be satisfactory ? For if the Methodists and 
you and your friends are so well agreed, why do you 
oppose them ? In the idea, however, that you are 
agreed, you ask, " What more can be required ?" I 
answer, much more ; and that nothing you have ad- 
vanced above exonerates you from the charge of hav- 
ing subverted the very foundation of the Gospel. 
<c There is not," you say, any Genevan pastor who does 



128 



not honour the Son as the raiser of the dead,, and the 
judge of all the children of men." This you may do 
according to your view of things ; you may honour the 
Son because he raises the dead, and because he has 
all judgment committed to him as the highest crea- 
ture. But this is a very different thing from honour- 
ing the Son, even as we honour the Father ; John v. 
28 ; — from viewing him as " over all, God blessed for 
ever/' It is thus that, as you well know, those whom 
you call Methodists honour him ; and yet you here 
wish to confound their sentiments with your own ; 
acting over again the part which you did, when you 
said, that all the pastors confessed that Jesus was a 
divine person ; artfully concealing the fact, that the 
difference between you and them on this point, is (I 
repeat it) no less than between finite and infinite. 

You quote the passage in the tenth chapter of the 
Romans, in which the apostle declares, that if a man 
confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus, and be- 
lieve in his heart that God hath raised him from the 
dead, he shall be saved ; and also the eunuch's reply 
to Philip's question, which was sustained as a suffi- 
cient answer. And then you ask triumphantly, if we 
profess to have more knowledge than our guides who 
were assisted by the Holy Spirit ? Do you not per- 
ceive why the apostle's declaration and the eunuch's 
answer were sufficient in the circumstances in which 
they were made ; and yet, that when quoted by you, 
they furnish no criterion from which to conclude that 
you annex to them their true and original meaning ? 
To the persons to whom the Apostle Paul made the 
above declaration, he had previously stated the cha- 



129 



racter of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Eternal God, 
and Philip, who acted under the inspiration of the 
same Spirit, had, before he received the eunuch's an- 
swer, u preached unto him Jesus/' But to the view 
of the Redeemer's person given by Paul, we know 
that you stand directly opposed, and declaim against 
it as a mystery which you will not suffer to be preach- 
ed in the pulpits of Geneva. I affirm, therefore, that 
your quoting these passages, and the other general 
assertions which you make, are nothing to the pur- 
pose. 

When there was no difference of opinion respecting 
the passages quoted, but the same meaning was at- 
tached to them by both parties, nothing more was ne- 
cessary but general statements of them. But when 
their meaning comes to be disputed ; when you quote 
them in such a manner, as at once to suit your own 
views, and the views of men whose system you affirm 
6 swerves from the religion of Christ/ and c leads its 
' disciples to conduct and sentiments far different 
c from those which the Saviour enjoins on his child- 
4 ren / and the effects of which are c entirely op- 
( posite to those produced by Christianity/ on account 
of which, you say, the clergy of Geneva c have given 
e their voice against Methodism' — when you do this, 
then I am warranted to hold that you are acting in an 
evasive, dishonourable manner. You present us with 
assertions, which, you say, you can decidedly make 
respecting yourself and men whose systems swerve 
from the system of Christ, and are productive of ef- 
fects entirely opposite to Christianity ; and you think 
that this is enough. What more, you exclaim, can 



130 



be required ? But do you not see the absurdity of 
all this ? If these assertions are applicable to men 
whose sentiments you explicitly condemn, what evi- 
dence do they afford that your sentiments are correct ? 
Observing that you act in this manner, and at the 
same time, that you prefer charges against me and 
others, as if we were disturbers of the peace of your 
church, because those of your people who unite with 
me in sentiment have conscientiously reverted to, and 
now hold firm the doctrines of its founders and first 
reformers, I am surely entitled to call on you to 
come forward and avow what you really are, and to 
discontinue those evasions and secret machinations by 
which you and your predecessors have entirely, though 
to many imperceptibly, changed the character of your 
church. 

The following quotation from my Commentary, 
vol. i. p. 16, expresses my reasons for not admitting, 
as of any value, your general assertions respecting the 
Lord Jesus Christ ; and also the reasons why the Cal- 
vinists at Geneva, to whom you are so hostile, (while 
you acknowledge that they are " those who are com- 
monly called the orthodox/') cannot, while you hold 
your present sentiments, admit your claim to be con- 
sidered as a Christian. 

u The first and great truth, that the Holy Spirit 
testifies to believers, is respecting Christ. The Spirit of 
truth cannot testify two opposite things, the one that 
Christ is both God and man, the other that he is a 
creature, who however elevated he may be supposed 
to be, would always be infinitely below God. The one 
or the other of those who admit opinions so opposite 



131 



is in a fundamental error, and has received a lying 
Spirit. There is here no medium. He who believes 
that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. But, if the 
doctrine of any one is erroneous in this respect, it has 
no relation to the Christ spoken of in the Scripture, 
but to an imaginary person, infinitely different. When, 
in saying that the fundamental article of faith is, that 
Jesus is the Messiah, it is understood that the person 
called by this name, who lived at such a time, and in 
such a place, ought" to be thus named, while there is 
not included in the idea which this name expresses, 
all the qualities and the rights of this person, the 
opinion is entirely unreasonable ; for neither the 
name, nor the time, nor the place, is of such import- 
ance as those things which are essential to the Mes- 
siah, and which are much more necessary to establish 
identity between the object of our veneration and 
love, and the person that the Gospel reveals to us. 
If we suppose that Christ, who, we are told, is a di- 
vine person, is simply a man, or even the first of all 
creatures, we represent to ourselves an object infinite- 
ly further from the truth than if, in acknowledging 
the existence of this divine person, we suppose that 
he has another name, or that he lived at another time, 
or in another place. Jesus himself reproaches the Jews 
for not having known him. In what sense did they 
not know him ? It could not be in any other but in 
that of forming a false idea of him. 

" We may here remark, that those who depart from 
the true sense of Scripture respecting the essential 
divinity of Jesus Christ, depart also from all the prin- 
cipal points of the doctrine of the Gospel. They 



132 



differ from those who hold it on the fundamental doc- 
trine of God the Father, the Word., and the Holy 
Spirit, and that these three are one ; — on the cha- 
racter of God as just, and at the same time the 
Saviour ; (the system of the Arians and the Socinians 
lead to the denial of his justice ;)■— on the law as ab- 
solute, and as being satisfied with nothing less than 
perfect obedience ; — on the character of man, conceived 
in sin, and brought forth in iniquity, by nature a child 
of wrath, placed under the condemnation of death 
pronounced on him in his first parent ; in short, the 
total corruption of human nature ; — on the doctrine of 
the atonement of Christ ; — of regeneration ; — of justi- 
fication by faith only, and without works of any kind, 
whether works of the law or works of faith ; — of sancti- 
fi cation by the influences of the Holy Spirit ; — of elec- 
tion by the sovereign decree of God ; lastly,— of the 
final perseverance of the saints, by efficacious grace, 
The Arians and Socinians also, in general, retrench 
from what they regard as the objects of faith, the doc- 
trine of the eternal punishment of sinners in a future 
state ; the existence of the devil, or at least his influ- 
ence on the minds of men. In one word, they reject 
the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. It i& 
true, that those who deny these truths take the name 
of Christians as well as those who believe them ; but 
can it be conceived that both the one and the other 
are Christians ?" 

Overturn the above statements if you are able. 
Your attempt, when its futility is exposed, may prove 
useful to some, who are at present " as he that lieth 
down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth on 
the top of a mast." Prov. xxiii. 34. 



133 



Truly, ye Arians of Geneva, ye have left the Gos- 
pel as ye have left yourselves, " a tree unbranched, 
without boughs or leaves/' Ye have robbed it of all 
its grace and of all its glory. Having denied its pe- 
culiar doctrines, it would now be well for you to es- 
tablish, if possible, your great discoveries. " Man is 
born pure/' iC There is no devil"—" no place of 
future punishment, or at most, but a sort of purga- 
tory." " The Gospel is useful, but not necessary to 
men for salvation." But in order to establish your 
scheme of doctrine, you must provide another Bible ; 
for the present Bible, even in the unfaithful transla- 
tion you have made of it, will not serve your purpose. 

Justly, indeed, has the epithet of blind guides been 
applied to you. If you continue in your present 
course, you yourselves, and those who follow you, 
must unavoidably fall into the ditch. The devil, we 
are told, without figure or allegory, " walketh about 
seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter i. 8. Never 
does he so certainly overtake and devour his victims ; 
never does he so completely take men captive at his 
will — 2 Tim. ii. 26 ; — never does he work in the child- 
ren of disobedience with such dreadful efficiency, as 
when he has succeeded in convincing them that he 
has no existence. Having prevailed thus far, he pur- 
sues his advantage, employing you in that secret work 
of darkness, of which so many accuse you, and which 
you have been long engaged in carrying on. Oh ! that 
something which has been here said might lead ydu to 
reflect, and reach conviction to your minds before it 
be too late. You are not sensible either of the great- 
ness of your danger, or of the extent of your guilt. 



134 

The contest you are carrying on is not against man, 
but against God. But cc you have imagined a vain 
thing/' " Woe to him that striveth with his Maker !" 
Isa. xlv. 9. cc He stretcheth out his hand against 
God ; and strengthened! himself against the Almigh- 
ty ; he runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the 
thick bosses of his bucklers ; because he covereth his 
face with fatness ; and maketh collops of fat on his 
flanks. And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in 
houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to 
become heaps." Job xv. 25. Mark here the true 
cause of that change of opinion concerning Geneva 
which you so much deplore, and which, as you affirm, 
has extended to the ends of the earth. " Geneva is no 
longer Christian ! is the cry which resounds in the city 
itself, and is heard in England, in Holland, in Ger- 
many, in France, and has even reached the astonished 
ears of the inhabitants of the New World." 

I have said that this change, in the public opinion, 
has neither been so sudden nor so recent as from your 
account your readers would be induced to suppose. 
The date you assign to it is the beginning of the pre- 
sent century ; but, in reality, it took place at a much 
earlier period. You are well acquainted with the re- 
marks on the pastors of Geneva in the Encyclopedia 
— the compliments paid them by D'Alembert, as well 
as with the extract from their register, published in 
consequence, dated 10th February 1758. The article, 
in the Encyclopedia, contains different charges ; 
among others, it is there said, C( Purgatory, which 
has been one of the principal causes of the separation 
of the Protestants from the Church of Rome, is now 



135 



the only punishment that many among them admit 
after death/' It is added, " To say all, in one word, 
many of the pastors of Geneva have no other reli- 
gion but a perfect Socinianism, rejecting all that 
they call mysteries." How fully is this verified by 
your sermon on the mysteries. 

The answer of the pastors to the charges brought 
against them was insufficient and equivocal, and ques- 
tions afterwards put to them on different important 
points, appear to have remained without any explicit 
reply. Even at that time also they proceeded in a 
clandestine underhand manner, and D'Alembert re- 
marked of them, " I should be extremely concerned 
to be suspected of having betrayed their secret" 

You are likewise acquainted with Rousseau's de- 
fence of them, and with the following letter from 
him on the subject. — u They demand of the ministers 
of the church of Geneva, if Jesus Christ be God? 
They dare not answer. A philosopher, with a glance 
of the eye, penetrates their character. He sees them 
to be Arians, Socinians, Deists ; he proclaims it, and 
thinks he does them honour. They are alarmed, ter- 
rified; they come together, they discuss, they are in 
agitation, they know not to which of the saints they 
should turn, and after earnest consultations, deliber- 
ations, conferences, all vanishes in an ampkigouri; and 
they neither say yes nor no. O Genevans, these 
gentlemen, your ministers, in truth, are very singular 
people ! They do not know what they believe or what 
they do not believe. They do not even know what 
they would wish to appear to believe. Their only 
manner of establishing their faith, is to attack the 
faith of others." 



136 



Thus it appears, that the defection of the pastors 
of Geneva from the principles of the Reformation, 
and their artful attempts to conceal the change, 
were long ago subjects of ridicule, even to infidels. 
That the degradation of their morals kept pac$ with 
the degeneracy of their doctrine, the following anec- 
dote, related at a public meeting in this city in 1821, 
of the recommendation of suicide by one of the pastors 
to another of them, affords a melancholy proof. 

" Geneva, which had been called the cradle of the 
Reformation, where Calvin dwelt, a man of high re- 
nown, into whose spirit our own illustrious reformer 
Knox had drunk so deep, and from whose wise and 
salutary institutions the church of Scotland has deriv- 
ed such important advantages; Geneva, this once 
famed city and church, which long continued the glory 
of the Reformation, has sunk into a state of the most 
deplorable degeneracy. He (the speaker) could not re- 
frain from stating, in proof of this fact, an anecdote 
which he recollects to have heard more than forty 
years ago, of unquestioned authenticity, and which 
left an indelible impression on his mind. One of the 
pastors of Geneva, a man distinguished by his ta- 
lents, and by the amiable sensibilities of nature, had 
been visited in the course of providence by successive 
domestic afflictions, in the death of several relatives, 
to whom his heart was attached by the most endeared 
and tender affection. He found it necessary for the 
benefit of his health, to retire to the country. With 
a view to sooth his mind, a friend, another of the 
pastors of Geneva, wrote a letter, in which, being a 
stranger to the consolations of the religion of Jesus, 



137 



he reminds him of those natural affections which 
worldly wisdom and a vain philosophy combine to 
suggest, after which he stated to his friend, that if 
these views were insufficient to afford the support he 
required, there still remained to him one resource, of 
which he could never be deprived, as he had it always 
in his power, when he chose, to withdraw from a 
world which he had found so replete with disappoint^ 
ment and sorrow. Miserable refuge ! Nor does it 
appear from the most authentic testimony, that the 
state of religion and morals has since improved in the 
city of Geneva/' 

M. Bost, who is well acquainted with the pastors 
and professors of Geneva, has given in his publica- 
tion of 18 19; an account of their declension, from a 
very early period, and many particulars concerning 
their manner of proceeding. 

" They commonly begin," he says, ec by not be- 
lieving the divinity of Jesus Christ. They say that 
he is the greatest of creatures, the most exalted being 
after God. Such are the opinions, which, among 
other authors, are professed by M. Vernet in his 
Instruction Chretienne, fourth edition, one of the 
writers who has most influence over the church of 
Geneva. To conceal from the people this progress 
of light, as they express themselves, they have given 
to the same chapter in which they take away from 
Jesus Christ his divinity, the title, Of the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ ! . . . When I call this a cheat who can con- 
vict me of falsehood ? and when I prefer the same ac- 
cusation against all those who follow the same method 
of teaching, who can accuse me of going beyond the 
language of truth, or that of charity ?" 



138 



" A great number of the pastors and professors 
of Geneva have embraced for a long time past the 
principles of Arianism and Pelagianism, and many 
others enter,, more or less., into the different de- 
grees of Socinianism ...... and, for myself in par- 
ticular, I can say confidently, that during the four 
years which I passed in the study of theology, I 
have constantly seen the two first of these systems 
followed, and the third appear under a thousand 
forms. ... To the proofs which I have alleged, and 
which, on the first demand, could be supported by 
an unlimited number of witnesses, a multitude of 
others could be added. It is only necessary to con- 
sult the writings which have appeared on one side 
or other, to observe the silence of those against whom 
accusations are brought which require a formal de- 
nial, the weakness, the silence, and also the decla- 
rations of the catechisms and liturgies of Geneva, the 
epithet of useless or accessory constantly lavished on 
doctrines reputed by others of the highest import- 
ance." . . . . " If you believe you are of the truth," 
adds M. Bost, " why do you not communicate it to those 
whose pastors you are, that you may lead them to the 
truth ? Why your profound silence ? . . . . must it still 
be believed that this is a part of some plan which is 
pursued in secret, without your daring to avow it? 
Does any one fear to say what he thinks, when he only 
thinks what is right ? Nothing, nothing, is preferable 
to rectitude. A man who does not believe, and who 
says so, is at least exempt from fraud. Declare your- 
selves, therefore, to your church, that the people may 
know at last on what ground they stand. Declare 



139 



yourselves separately if you cannot do it together— 
but,, once for all, do it,, and do it frankly : show your- 
selves; all the world calls out to you,, to say what 
you believe, and what you do not believe." 

Here are direct assertions concerning the pastors 
of Geneva, not merely respecting their conduct since 
the beginning of the present century, but "for a 
long time past" and accusations preferred against 
them of such a nature as fully to warrant the unfa- 
vourable opinion entertained of them by Christ- 
ians of other countries. M. Bost, in his pamphlet, 
speaks a language too precise to be mistaken, and on 
his own personal knowledge of what he asserts. He 
appeals to the silence of the pastors as a proof of their 
guilt. You have animadverted on his pamphlet in 
such a way as to prove you feel its force, and that it 
has created in your mind no small uneasiness. Yet 
you have not dared to meet his accusations. Who- 
ever peruses his pamphlet, published four years ago, 
or even the above extracts, must be convinced from 
what you have said, that you are incapable of extri- 
cating yourself and the other pastors from a situation 
sufficiently embarrassing. You are afraid to avow 
the truths he asserts, at the same time it is out of 
your power to deny them. 

Come forward, Sir, at last, and openly declare what 
you really are. Tell the world plainly, that you have 
departed from all the important principles of the Re- 
formation. In your denial of the doctrine of the Tri- 
nity — of the divinity of the Son of God, and of the 
Holy Spirit, you have removed the very foundations 
of the Christian religion. If you have erred from the 



140 



faith respecting the character of God, and the work 
of redemption, you have equally departed from it re- 
specting the character of man. You have abjured the 
doctrine of justification by faith without works, which 
was the grand subject of controversy betwixt Luther 
and his opponents, and which he so justly designated 
<c Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesice." In your 
entire ignorance of this leading article of the Christ- 
ian religion, you charge those who hold it with waging 
war against good works. It would be saying little to 
affirm that Luther and Calvin would have spurned 
from them such pretended friends of their reforma- 
tion. Even that very church from which they separat- 
ed, maintaining, as it does, fundamental principles 
of the highest importance, which you discard as false, 
would utterly disallow your pretensions to the name 
of Christians. 

" You have taken away the key of knowledge ; ye 
enter not in yourselves, and them that were enter- 
ing in, ye hindered." You have bound down your 
preachers in such a manner, that they can no more 
" declare the whole counsel of God." But " the word 
of God is not bound." In spite of you, it shall " have 
free course and be glorified." Your city in former 
times was highly favoured with the Gospel, which 
laid the foundation of all its prosperity. But the 
honourable distinction is lost ; and on its churches, 
in which the Gospel was once so purely preached, 
is now written I-ckabod, for the glory is departed 
from them. 



141 



THE LETTER REFERRED TO, PAGE 86, RE- 
SPECTING THE REGULATION, DATED MAY 

3, 1817. 

My dear sin, 
I have read with astonishment the extract with 
which you favoured me in your last letter, giving an 
account of the strange compromise entered into be- 
tween the pastors of Geneva,, for suppressing the glo- 
rious Gospel of God our Saviour. Not that it sur- 
prises me that men should be found in all countries, 
so hardened as to deny the Sou, and all the distin- 
guishing doctrines of his word ; even as many have 
denied the Divine Existence itself. But is it not be- 
yond measure astonishing, that men not lost to all re- 
gard to consistency and moral character, should be 
found to avail themselves of such disingenuity and 
equivocation in expressing their sentiments, as the 
Arians here employ , and that any evangelical preach- 
ers should bind themselves by this unholy covenant, 
to avoid preaching the substance of the doctrines of 
the Scriptures ? In submitting to you,, then, a few stric- 
tures on this extract, I shall have an eye chiefly to 
the inconsistency and dishonesty of both parties. 

The dispute, I perceive, originated from two dis- 
courses, in opposition to each other, with respect to the 
deity of Christ. In the compromise, ee each one of the 
pastors confessed that Jesus was a Divine Being." 
Now, Sir, here is a lie of the most disingenuous kind ; 
a lie on the most important of all subjects. Is it not 



142 



essential to moral truths that the expressions which we 
use be calculated, or at least intended, to convey our 
meaning to the minds of those whom we address? 
If so,, here is an untruth ; here is a declaration which, 
instead of being intended to convey the real senti- 
ments of the writers,, is artfully constructed for the 
very purpose of deceiving the public. What is ge- 
nerally understood by the phrase Divine Being ? Is 
it not understood to mean one who possesses every at- 
tribute of Godhead ? Is there any Divine Being but 
the one almighty, infinite, and eternal Jehovah ? If 
any man, then, uses the phrase Divine Being to desig- 
nate any thing but the true God himself, he employs 
his words in a sense different from that of common 
use, and in a grammatical point of view, speaks im- 
properly. But, if he does so intentionally, to make 
others take a meaning out of his words different from 
his real meaning, it is that unmanly species of lie 
which is called equivocation. This artifice is very 
suitable to a school of Jesuits, but it is lamentable to 
detect it in the chair of the illustrious Calvin. O 
church of Geneva, how art thou fallen from thy once 
distinguished station among the churches of the Re- 
formation ! How awfully hast thou departed, both 
from the faith and from the morality of thy founder ! 

On the part of the Calvinistic pastor, how incon- 
sistent was acquiescence in this deceitful, jesuitical 
confession ! Does he not combine to delude all who 
are deceived by the ambiguous expressions employed 
in this compact ? The public has his authority to be- 
lieve, that the deity of Christ was acknowledged by 
his Arian confederate. Did he imagine that to con- 

1 



14S 



fess Christ as a Divine Being, in the sense of an Arian, 
is of any importance to salvation ? Did he consider 
such a confession any way to the honour of the Sa- 
viour ? Is it any compliment to Jesus to be acknow- 
ledged a god in the sense in which it was given to the 
whole brood of pagan divinities ? Is the elegant theo- 
logy of Greece and Rome to be revived under the 
Christian name by the divines of Geneva ? Shall a 
Christian be content to have his Saviour such a god as 
the deified heroes of antiquity ? 

A like disingenuity is employed in the language of 
the confession, that all men are sinners. In such a 
situation, the term man refers to the human race, 
without distinction of age or sex. The expression 
all men are sinners, is equivalent to the expression, 
every individual of the human race is a sinner. Now, 
the Arians do not believe this : they maintain that 
all men are born pure. Therefore, when they sign an 
article, declaring that all men are sinners, they must 
understand the expression as extending only to those 
who are men in years, or at least such as are guilty 
of actual sin. The above confession then from an 
Arian, is a falsehood ; and the Calvinist who unites 
with him in this confession, knowing the sentiments 
of his confederate, countenances that falsehood, and 
assists him in his imposture. Arian morality, we 
see, is here quite of a piece with their theology. 

What shall I say of the humble confession of these 
sage divines, in which they all agree, " that from the 
origin of Christianity, no one had been able to com- 
prehend the manner in which the Son had proceeded 
from the Father?" They here insinuate, that in or- 



144 



der to believe or teach the deity of Jesus Christ, it is 
necessary to comprehend the manner of this proces- 
sion. But because all men are unable to compre- 
hend what the Scriptures do not explain, are we 
therefore to avoid teaching what the Scriptures clear- 
ly assert ? There is a capital error lies at the bottom 
of those reasons for avoiding the discussion of the dis- 
puted doctrines. It is supposed that the incom- 
prehensibility of a doctrine affects the evidence 
of its truth; it is insinuated that what is incom- 
prehensible is not to be believed, or at least not to be 
taught. Now, Sir, if we make the comprehensibility 
of a doctrine a criterion of its truth, we will reject 
many of the most important doctrines of the light of 
nature. These divines, as a dissuasive from preach- 
ing the necessity of divine influence in regeneration 
and sanctification, tell us that no man, from the origin 
of Christianity, has been able to comprehend the way 
in which God influences the human mind. Can they 
tell us the way in which the mind influences the 
body? Yet all men believe with the utmost confi- 
dence of conviction, that the mind influences the 
body in all its voluntary motions and operations. 
Can the divines of Geneva tell what way my mind 
conveys its influence to my hand in writing these ob- 
servations? No philosopher has ever been able to ex- 
plain this. Shall I then enter into articles with my 
sceptical neighbour, binding myself, for the sake of 
peace, not to declare my belief in the influence of my 
mind over my body? Would this be absurd? Not 
more absurd than the convention of the divines of 
Geneva. They agree not to preach that God in- 



145 



fluences the human mind; because, in the depth of 
their metaphysical sagacity, they cannot comprehend 
the manner of the divine operation. Contemptible 
theology ! contemptible metaphysics ! the grounds of 
their resolution are as silly as the resolution itself is 
daringly infidel. Can any thing be more impious and 
foolish than to refuse to believe or to publish what God 
testifies, because they cannot comprehend the nature 
of the thing about which he testifies ? So far from 
being a sufficient ground for rejecting God's testi- 
mony, the incomprehensibility of a doctrine divinely 
attested, ought not even to form a difficulty. With 
respect to what is incomprehensible, the mind, by its 
own light, cannot say that it is either true or false. 
It cannot judge of a thing which it does not compre- 
hend. That which I can declare false I must under- 
stand. That which I do not understand may be true, 
and if I have God's testimony in the matter, I ought 
to believe its truth with the most firm faith. The 
doctrine of the Trinity is incomprehensible. Had 
philosophers taught it as a discovery of their own, I 
could not receive it as truth, nor could I say that it is 
certainly false ; because, though incomprehensible, it 
is not a contradiction. It does not say that the three 
Persons of the Godhead are one Person, or that one 
God is three Gods. The assertions of Trinity and 
Unity respect the subject in a different point of view. 
As a doctrine then, of man, I can neither receive it, 
nor reject it as an impossibility. I have no grounds 
on which to rest belief. But when I find this doc- 
trine in the Scriptures, I believe the Trinity as confi- 
dently as I do the Unity. In this my faith is not 

H 



146 



more the faith of a Christian than it is also the faith 
of a philosopher ; for it is faith upon evidence that 
sound philosophy never yet rejected. Sound philoso- 
phy never presumes to " reject a truth founded on 
proper evidence, on account of being incomprehensi- 
ble. I believe that there has been a past eternity, 
yet I can comprehend as little of duration without a 
beginning, as I can of one God in three persons. 
Space, I am forced to believe, has no limits, yet there 
is nothing in the Trinity more overwhelmingly in- 
comprehensible than the existence of space without 
end. My mind sees clearly that there can be no 
bound to space, yet I cannot see how this is possible. 
There is a point beyond which I cannot place this 
thought. It has always appeared to me, then, that those 
persons who arrogate to themselves the appellation of 
rational Christians, because they believe nothing but 
what their reason comprehends, are the most irrational 
as well as the most presumptuous of men. The 
sternest voice of reason commands us to believe every 
thing of which it has evidence that God teaches. My 
reason forces me to believe the doctrine of the Trini- 
ty, because it finds it taught in the Scriptures with 
the light of a sun-beam. In a philosophical point of 
view, I cannot but look with contempt on the Gene- 
va divines, for proscribing a number of doctrines, 
merely because there is something in the nature of 
the things to which they refer, which is incomprehen- 
sible to human wisdom. Considering them as teach- 
ers of the word of God, proscribing doctrines, the 
most important in Christianity, I cannot but look up- 
on these divines of Geneva as God-daring rebels. 



147 



We are told in the extract, that " all were equally 
convinced of the necessity of banishing these disput- 
ed topics from the Christian pulpit." Is it a Christ- 
ian pulpit from which these topics are banished ? Is 
it a Christian, pulpit that does not declare the true 
character of the Saviour ? Is it a Christian pulpit 
that shows not to sinners that there is a sacrifice 
of sufficient value to atone for the offences of the most 
guilty ? Is it a Christian pulpit that does not point out 
the only way in which any of the race of Adam can be 
saved ? Is it a Christian pulpit that does not declare 
the full extent of human guilt ? Is it a Christian pul- 
pit that does not teach the work of the Spirit in re- 
generation and sanctification ? No, it is not a Christ- 
ian pulpit ; it is the rostrum of Satan for haranguing 
his synagogue. It may, indeed, have stolen some 
sparks of heavenly truth to enliven its lifeless dogmas, 
but it is on that account the more dangerous deceiver. 
It may have taken from the mines of the Holy Spirit, 
as much precious metal as serves to gild its base coin, 
but this only makes it a more successful impostor. 
Ought the deity of Jesus Christ to be a matter of 
dispute among Christians ? As well may Christianity 
itself be a point of dispute among them, as the deity 
of its author. Without this article there is no Christ- 
ianity. Why do not the Geneva Doctors avoid as- 
serting the divine origin of the Christian religion, to 
promote harmony between Christians and Deists ? 
If God has declared the whole human race guilty 
in their head, ought it to be a question among Christ- 
ians, whether they should daringly deny the debt, or 

accept pardon through the atonement ? If all men are 

2 



148 



naturally dead in trespasses, ought it to be a ques- 
tion with Christians whether God is the author of the 
spiritual life ? As well may they question, whether 
their natural life is the gift of God, or is a work of 
their own. 

But are all disputed points to be banished from a 
Christian pulpit ? What then will remain as subjects 
of discussion ? What doctrine of Christianity has not 
been disputed ? What doctrine is there in natural reli- 
gion itself that has not been denied ? In a word, what 
truth is there of any kind that has not been question- 
ed ? Has not the existence of God itself been denied, 
and regular systems of atheism formed by the most 
distinguished philosophers ? The very existence of the 
world has been denied ; the testimony of the senses 
has been discredited ; the authority of axioms has 
been resisted. Some philosophers have not believed 
even their own existence, and a sect, called Egoists, 
refused to believe in the existence of any thing but 
themselves. Moral distinctions have been denied, 
and the difference between right and wrong has been 
considered only as a feeling of the mind. Vice might 
have been virtue, and virtue vice, had man been dif- 
ferently constituted. What then have the divines of 
Geneva left for the discussion of the pulpit ? If one 
disputed point ought to be avoided, all disputed 
points ought equally to be avoided. 

But if the ^Geneva Doctors are right, Paul was al- 
together wrong. Instead of avoiding disputed topics, 
these he laboured with particular assiduity. Opposi- 
tion to the truth, instead of being a reason with him 
for avoiding the disputed truth, was the very thing 

1 



149 



that excited his earnestness in contending for it. 
What are almost all his epistles but controversial dis- 
courses,, establishing truth in opposition to the errors 
of false teachers who had corrupted the Gospel ? 
When the false teachers had succeeded in introdu- 
cing circumcision to the churches of Galatia, did 
Paul enter into a compact with the ravenous wolves 
that sought to devour the nock ? No., instead of this, 
he declares, tc I would they were even cut off that 
trouble you." Does he strike a covenant with the 
judaizing teachers, to avoid the subject of controversy ? 
No, he declares that the innovations would destroy 
the Gospel, (vide Gal. v. 2 — 4.) In the Gospel of 
Paul the slightest addition destroyed its efficacy ; in 
the Gospel of the Geneva Doctors, there may be dif- 
ferent Gods, without any injury. Jude, in like 
manner, exhorts Christians earnestly to contend for the 
faith once delivered to the saints ; but now a happy 
method has been discovered by the divines of Geneva, 
by which the worshippers of different gods may worship 
together in harmony. War, then, war, eternal war, 
war without a truce^ is to be carried on against the 
various corruptions of the Gospel. They who enter 
into covenants of peace with the promulgators of er- 
ror, are like a general who has made peace with his 
king's enemies, contrary to the interests and orders of 
his sovereign. Instead of being praised as being a 
lover of peace, he will be condemned as a traitor. 

The framers of this extract employ disingenuous 
artifice in expressing the topics in dispute. What 
are the real points in dispute ? We may learn, from 
the origin of the contest, that the deity of Christ is 



150 



the chief of them. Yet, instead of candidly stating 
the deity of Christ as the point in debate, we are given 
to understand, that the disputed matter is the manner 
of the procession of the Son from the Father, and the 
manner in which the divine nature is united to the 
person of Christ. The phraseology of the first article 
will pass with careless readers for a recognition of the 
deity of Christ, yet, in reality, it excludes this doc- 
trine. The person of Christ is supposed to be distinct 
from the divine nature. Christ is supposed to be 
possessed of the divine nature in the way in which 
Christians are partakers of the Spirit of God. This 
is not the godly simplicity and honesty recommended 
and exemplified by the apostles. Disputes about ex- 
planations of the incomprehensible things of God 
ought indeed to be avoided, because such explanations 
are forbidden, and are blasphemous. What is incom- 
prehensible cannot be explained by examples. Should 
any man attempt to fathom and illustrate the doctrine 
of the Trinity, he would be guilty of temerity, im- 
piety, and the most egregious trifling. We are to 
believe such things, not because we can understand 
them, but because God declares them. To attempt 
to gain credit to them by making them plain, is to 
affront God by supposing that what he reveals is not 
to be believed on his own testimony. Wliat God 
deigns not to explain, it is blasphemous arrogance in 
man to attempt to explain. Attempts to explain the 
way in which God influences the human mind would 
indeed be unprofitable and vain. This subject ought 
to be avoided, not because it is matter of dispute, but 
because it is unrevealed. But is the reality of this. 



151 



influence not to be taught, because the manner of it 
is inexplicable ? 

What is meant by " giving importance, not to the 
words, but to the spirit of the Gospel/' is to me as in- 
comprehensible as any of the things referred to by the 
learned divines of Geneva. How do they know the 
spirit of the Gospel, but from its words ? Is there an 
opposition between the words of a book and the mean- 
ing expressed by these words ? Is there any danger 
that the words chosen by the Holy Spirit to express 
the Gospel, will lead to strife, while the spirit of 
those words begets peace and Christian charity ? Had 
these pastors directed their reprehension against the 
silly affectation of those who make a point of con- 
science of using only scriptural words, their conduct 
would have been worthy of approbation. But, from 
the nature of the dispute, their intention must be 
wickedly to set the doctrines of Scripture at variance 
with the general spirit of peace and love which it ex- 
hibits. Now, the Scripture, instead of representing 
its doctrines as at variance with a spirit of love and 
peace, represents love and peace, and all holiness, as 
flowing from no other source than these doctrines. 
To make such a distinction, then, between the words 
and the spirit of the Gospel, is the work of Satan to 
destroy both. 

In the preliminary remark, we find, that the pastors 
have been led to make this act from their being " im- 
bued with a spirit of humility, peace, and Christian 
charity/' &c. Now, Sir, how is humility concerned 
in the formation of these articles ? Why, the subjects 



152 



referred to are so abstruse in their nature, that no 
humble-minded man can determine with confidence 
about them. Divines differ so much about these 
points, that humility forbids us to be confident. It is 
too assuming to say, that great divines could be in 
error. Is this humility ? No,, it is pride. It is pay- 
ing a compliment to men at the expense of making 
God a liar ; it is worshipping our own understanding 
at the expense of refusing submission to the divine 
testimony. Is it any want of humility to believe im- 
plicitly and confidently what God declares ? Is it any 
want of humility to say that the man who contradicts 
God is a liar? Does the belief of the deity of 
Christ suppose that we can fathom the doctrine of the 
Trinity ? Does the belief of the imputation of Adam's 
sin suppose that we are able to scrutinize the reasons 
of the divine procedure in this matter ? Can we not 
give credit to the Judge of the whole earth that he 
acts righteously,, although we cannot comprehend his 
unsearchable counsels ? Does the belief of the opera- 
tions of grace suppose that we are able to discern the 
way in which God acts on the mind ? Does the be- 
lief of the creation of the world suppose that we have 
a conception of the way in which all things were form- 
ed out of nothing ? Are we not to receive the king- 
dom of heaven as little children ? And do children be- 
lieve nothing on the word of their parents, unless they 
understand the nature of the things of which they are 
informed ? Suppose an astronomer informs a peasant 
that the sun does not move round the earth, but that 
the earth moves round the sun ; the latter cannot 



153 



comprehend how this can be. But cannot he know 
what the astronomer asserts on this point ? Although 
he does not comprehend the doctrine taught,, he 
knows, with the utmost confidence, what the astrono- 
mer teaches ; namely, that the sun does not move 
round the earth as it appears, but that the earth 
moves round the sun contrary to appearance. Of the 
former he has no comprehension, and perhaps no be- 
lief ; but, of the latter, the most enlightened philoso- 
pher cannot have a more confident conviction. Now, in 
what way will the peasant show humility of mind on 
this subject ? Just in the very opposite way to that in 
which the Geneva pastors display their humility ; 
not by the self-conceited arrogant assertion of ignor- 
ance, that the doctrine of the astronomer is false and 
impossible, because he does not understand it ; but 
by declaring that the thing may be true, although a 
poor illiterate peasant cannot immediately comprehend 
it. If the self-conceit of the peasant is as great as 
his ignorance, like the Arian, he will confidently as- 
sert, that the doctrine of the astronomer is impossible. 
God testifies that there are three persons in the God- 
head. What more is our business with respect to 
this divine assertion ? Is it not to examine the Scrip- 
tures fully, whether such a doctrine is really taught; 
and, if we find it to be taught, to receive it with all 
confidence ? To set about attempts to level the doc- 
trine to our understanding, and suspend our belief 
on our ability to comprehend it, is the arrogance and 
rebellion of Satan. Is God worthy of credit no farther 
than we understand the things of which he testifies? 
Children give more credit to their parents ; the ignor- 



154 



ant give more credit to the learned. Every man be- 
lieves many things, the nature of which he does not 
comprehend. 

Suppose the peasant, instead of directly affronting 
the astronomer, by denying the possibility of what he 
acknowledged him to teach, should deny that the as- 
tronomer made such an assertion, and should labour 
to explain his words in such a manner as not to imply 
the obnoxious doctrine, would not his conduct appear 
ridiculous and frantic? But this is the very thing which 
the Arians do. Though innumerable passages of Scrip- 
ture clearly assert the doctrine of the Trinity — of ori- 
ginal sin — of the influence of the Holy Spirit on the 
human mind, and of predestination — though these doc- 
trines run through the whole texture of the divine 
word, and are fundamental to all that it teaches, the 
Arians are so mad as to deny that the Scriptures teach 
them. The conduct of Deists is not so absurd. They 
deny the Scriptures, because they contain the offensive 
doctrines ; the Arians absurdly pretend to hold the 
Scriptures, while they deny all their peculiar doc- 
trines. 

Let us now glance at the spirit of peace and Chris- 
tian charity with which the pastors tell us they are 
imbued. Christians ought indeed to follow peace 
with all men, and to love even their enemies. They 
ought to live peaceably, not only with Arians, but 
also with Deists and Atheists. But this does not 
require them to conceal any part of the counsel of 
God. The peace, however, and love to which 
the pastors refer, is that which ought to take place 
among Christians. To speak of peace and Christian 



155 



love, with respect to Arians, is the same as to incul- 
cate it with respect to infidels and Atheists. That 
man cannot be a Christian who does not believe 
Jesus Christ to be what he asserted of himself. If 
Christ is God, that man cannot be a Christian who 
denies his godhead. But even among Christians the 
spirit of peace and love does not require Christians to 
compromise any part of the will of Christ. When 
there are differences of opinions among Christians, 
each should do what he judges to be the will of his 
heavenly Master. He is neither to judge for an- 
other, nor to enter into any unholy compact with him, 
mutually to abstain from teaching the things in which 
they differ. They ought to maintain peace and love, 
while each follows his own views of the will of Jesus. 
But what shall I say of a combination to maintain 
peace and love with God's enemies, at the expense of 
burying the truth that is salvation ? Shall the sol- 
diers of Christ spike their guns in the field of battle, 
lest they should batter down the fortresses of his 
enemies? When some, in the church of Corinth, de- 
nied the resurrection, Paul did not direct the church 
to maintain peace by avoiding that doctrine, but de- 
clares that it was to their shame to have such persons 
among them. On this occasion the apostle shows 
that he was not in the least imbued with that spirit of 
humility, peace, and Christian charity, that has power- 
fully operated on. the pastors of Geneva. Had this 
church received instruction from the humble-minded, 
peaceful, and loving divines of Geneva, they would have 
been ordered to enter into a covenant to abstain from 
preaching either for or against the doctrines of the re- 



156 



surrection, with preliminary observations, importing 
the incomprehensible nature of the subject,, and tak- 
ing credit to themselves for the spirit of humility, 
peace, and Christian charity, that gave rise to the en- 
gagement. Indeed, the resurrection, as it respects 
identity of body, is as difficult to comprehend as the 
doctrine of the Trinity. But this was not Paul's me- 
thod. Without any metaphysical disquisitions on the 
nature of personal identity, he declares, that to deny 
the resurrection, by implication is to deny the Gos- 
pel. In like manner, to deny the deity of Christ, is 
to deny the Gospel ; for, if the Scriptures teach us 
that deity belongs to the person of Christ, to deny his 
deity, is to deny that Jesus is the Christ. 

The compromise of the pastors of Geneva mani- 
fests on both sides a total disregard to candour, in- 
tegrity, and the love of truth. If the Arians think 
they love truth, why did not zeal for it induce them 
to keep themselves unfettered in propagating their 
system? If they were honest men, would they bind 
themselves to conceal what it is of so much import- 
ance for the world to know ? If they were lovers of 
truth, would they seek to advance her interests by 
equivocation and falsehood? Attachment to truth, 
even in philosophy, would not permit important dis- 
coveries to be kept in silence by their authors. Yet 
these Arians, who believe that the common opinion 
of Christians, with respect to the deity of Christ, is 
an error, and consequently that Christians in general 
are guilty of idolatry, bind themselves to silence on 
this all-important subject. With whatever spirit they 
are imbued, of the spirit of honesty and the love of 



157 



truth, they have not the smallest tincture. They see 
Christians, in their estimation, worshipping what is 
not truly God ; yet they not only bind themselves to 
keep silence, but encourage the error by their shame- 
ful equivocations. Can such people hold up their 
faces as men of honour and integrity ? If Christ is 
not God, why do they not cry aloud against giving 
the honours of Jehovah to a creature ? Let Chris- 
tians be called off from idolatry with the voice of 
thunder. 

But what shall I say of ministers of evangelical 
sentiments, who bind themselves in this soul-destroy- 
ing covenant ? Do they not engage to be silent on 
the very subjects which Christ commands them to 
publish ? When the doctrines excepted in the articles 
are excluded, there is no Christianity left. What is 
their gospel, when it does not include the deity of 
Christ ? If Jesus is not God, his work can do no- 
thing for sinners. Every act of obedience to God, of 
which his nature was capable, was due on his own 
account. What then is the goodness that these un- 
godly covenanters proclaim to a guilty world ? If 
Jesus was not God, his sacrifice was of no more value 
than that of a sparrow, two of which were sold for a 
farthing. Of what use can be the preaching of such 
an atonement ? Ah, shame, shame, ye have surren- 
dered to the devil, and have obtained your liberty on 
parole that you will fight no more in the cause of the 
Saviour. Peter did indeed deny his Lord for a mo- 
ment; but ye have deliberately bound yourselves 
never to serve him. May the Lord Jesus look on 
you, and give you the repentance of Peter! What 



158 



shall we think of one professing to be redeemed by 
the blood of Christ, entering into a covenant in which 
he binds himself not to publish the dignity of his Sa- 
viour? What would we think of the loyalty of a 
subject, who should bind himself never to own his 
sovereign ? How can a Christian minister bind him- 
self not to declare the glories of the person and work 
of his Saviour ? How can his tongue keep silence on 
such a subject ? Such a man certainly would not 
have endured persecution in the first days of Christ- 
ianity. By silence, if not by idolatrous compliance, 
he would have avoided the offence of the cross. 

But not only will his love of Jesus forbid a minister 
of the Gospel to submit to such articles, his love of 
sinners will lead to the same thing. He will not be 
withheld from declaring to men the guilt of their na- 
tures, and the grounds of the sufficiency of the atone- 
ment. The foundation of the hope of sinners, and 
the distinguishing glories of the Godhead, are to be 
seen no where else than in the manifestation of God 
by Jesus Christ. The Father is not to be known in 
any other way than by perceiving his glory in the 
person and work of his Son. He that hath not the 
Son, hath not the Father. The most glorious of 
the divine attributes, and the most important to the 
salvation of men, are not to be discovered any where 
but in the doctrine of the Gospel, regarding the Per- 
son and work of the Saviour. No man hath seen 
God at any time ; the only begotten Son in his own 
person hath revealed him. God was manifest in the 
flesh, because Jesus possessed true deity. He that 
saw Jesus saw the Father; because he saw one who 



159 



displayed every attribute of Godhead : the wisdom 
and power of God are seen in the constitution of the 
person of Christ and his work,, which in consequence 
of this he was enabled to perform, incomparably 
more fully than in the creation of the heavens and 
the earth. Perfect mercy, justice, and love to sin- 
ners, are seen no where else. Here is God seen to 
be infinitely merciful : not so the Arian god, whose 
mercy is a mixture of injustice and weak compassion, 
and extends only to those who deserve it. But in the 
incarnate God, infinite mercy grasps the chief of sin- 
ners. Here is pure mercy without merit on the part 
of man. Where do we find the perfection of the di- 
vine justice ? Not in the Arian god, whose justice is 
tempered with mercy, and is limited and fettered a 
thousand ways. Not even in hell, in the eternal 
punishment of the damned, shall we find justice so 
fully displayed, as in the work of the incarnate God. 
Jesus gave justice all it could demand, so that now it 
secures the salvation of the redeemed as much as 
mercy itself. God is not only merciful to forgive, 
but he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. 
Justice, instead of being reduced to the necessity of 
taking a part from the bankrupt, has received full 
payment, and guarantees his deliverance. On the 
other hand, if Jesus is not God, there is not a just 
God in heaven, if any sinner is saved. Where do 
we find infinite love to sinners? Not in the Arian 
god, for there is no point of view in which sinners 
are worthy of such love. But in the incarnate God, 
even the chief of sinners are perfectly worthy of the 
divine love, because they are not only perfectly inno- 



160 



cent, but have the righteousness of God itself. They 
who know not Christ, know not God in his scriptural 
character, for the glory of God shines in the face of 
Jesus Christ. Ah, shameful covenant ! Are ye mi- 
nisters of Jesus, who have bound yourselves not to 
declare the character of the God of the Scriptures ? 
You have bound yourselves to conceal all the distin- 
guishing glories of Jehovah. You have bound your- 
selves to conceal that view of the divine character, 
which is the only secure hope of the guilty. You 
have then bound yourselves to co-operate with Satan 
in the damnation of sinners. The arch-enemy of 
God and man has bribed you to neutrality. Awake, 
awake from your dreadful delusion ! Break these ac- 
cursed bonds ! Proclaim the glories of your God and 
Saviour ! Lift up your voice like a trumpet ! Cry 
aloud, and spare not the schemes of treason ! Take a 
look at the address of Paul to the elders of Ephesus, 
Acts xx. 17 — 31. Can you, like Paul, appeal to your 
hearers, that you have kept back nothing that is pro- 
fitable? Have you not kept back every thing that 
could profit ? Let this tremendous declaration of the 
apostle tingle in your ears. Carry it with you before 
the throne of God. Look at this address, and then 
look to the bar of Jesus. Is your conscience seared ? 
Do ye defy the vengeance of the Almighty ? Ye have 
bound yourselves to keep back the only things that 
can profit your hearers : their blood shall be on your 
heads. Can you, like Paul, take your hearers to wit- 
ness, that ye have testified to all, faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ ? No, you have pledged your hands to 
the enemies of your master that ye will not preach 



161 



faith in him. Ye have bound yourselves to do the 
very reverse of what Paul did. Paul declares him- 
self pure of the blood of all men, because he shunned 
not to declare all the counsel of God: Ye have bound 
yourselves to shun the whole counsel of God. Let 
no friend of Jesus put a hand to this covenant of 
iniquity. Let them not be ashamed of the testimony 
of Jesus. Let them remember the awful words of 
the Lord Jesus, " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, 
and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be 
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father 
and of the holy angels/' Let them not fear the wrath 
of men. Hath not Jesus all power in heaven and on 
earth ? The wrath of men, as far as he will allow it 
to appear, he will make to praise him : when it is not 
for his glory he will restrain it. Fear thou not them, 
even though they had power to kill the body. Read 
the letters to the seven churches of Asia. How ex- 
actly does Christ mark what his servants are doing. 
How greatly is he displeased with those who asso- 
ciate with seducers. " Fear none of those things 
which thou shalt suffer : behold, the devil shall cast 
some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and 
ye shall have tribulation ten days : be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life," 
Rev. ii. 10. 

Yours, &c. 



FINIS. 



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